tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63318229866156143412018-08-13T23:50:54.297+08:00Chainyana personal lifestyle blogchaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.comBlogger463125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-4445990447020795582018-08-11T20:44:00.000+08:002018-08-11T20:44:21.428+08:00February 2018<div align="justify" class="para"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DAZdDUnEkxo/W2i9uOdhO2I/AAAAAAAADoQ/QOb9NHROwnwKMhDpuUPamrYkiHARkslLACLcBGAs/s1600/february-2018-photodiary.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Some highlights from the month of February. 🐱<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/849/43189282154_cdd419984d_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/862/43189281614_62d00d5ba7_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><a href="http://wickedalucard.tumblr.com" target=_blank>Aian</a> and I went to the BPI at Southmall to pay for our Komiket booth, ended up going home with a new bass guitar. I'll take a photo of it next time! We also had cake at Mary Grace. The strawberry shortcake is my new favorite!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/934/43189280764_5194ac6338_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />The Aventine kitty had her heat again 3 months after her kittens were born, so we decided it was time to had her spayed. We brought her to <a href="http://ppbcc.org/" target=_blank>PPBCC</a> (Philippine Pet Birth Control Center) all the way in Mandaluyong for the procedure. Having her spayed at a private clinic would have cost around P4000, and that was if it were a normal spay. We assumed that she was already pregnant (again), which meant it would be a spay-abort procedure. We already had our hands full with rehoming the two 4-month-old kittens from her previous litter, so we felt that doing this was for the best, sadly. Such procedures cost only P1000 at PPBCC, so we brought her there instead.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/856/43189280204_f4643dec98_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/941/43189279594_7d0e0abed8_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/933/28970899347_62a599d5e8_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1799/43003170315_a686c27f46_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1831/43859146922_048182faa2_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />We dropped her off at PPBCC's clinic at 11AM, and were then asked to pick her up at 6PM. That was 7 whole hours, so Aian and I went to Shang in the meantime. We had lunch (pho!), watched a movie (The Greatest Showman!), had coffee, bought some stuff, and had gelato. After that, we went to pick up the Aventine kitty.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1813/43003169625_37542a81ef_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />All the fluffy friends waiting to be picked up. The one with the fluffy blanket was so cute!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/854/43189277574_ceee1232fb_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I came down with the flu the day after. Having to give Aventine kitty meds every 12 hours while having to remember to take my own meds every 4-6 hours just made me 10x dizzier.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/932/43189278784_54469535e9_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Looking better after just a week! Recovery went really well. (I was still sick then though lol.) The downside of having her spayed was that she wouldn't go near her kittens anymore. It was pretty heartbreaking to see, especially since they were playing together just the day before the procedure. We think the whole ordeal of having been brought and then left at the clinic (with a ton of other panicking cats) made her a bit more guarded. She still came up to us but wouldn't let other cats—her kittens included—go near her at all. It was a good thing we waited until the kittens could eat solid food before going through with the procedure.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/860/42098807960_5b2a04c44f_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1771/42098807890_732cafecc1_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1819/42098807680_5cff87e458_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1778/43189276704_cc14702fa3_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1792/42098807470_b583981af4_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/851/42098807200_570447a54a_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Komiket! Manned the booth with Aian and Allysa, sold some of my kitty stickers, ate a lot of blueberry cream waffles. I still hadn't recovered completely by this time, but I was well enough to go out and man our booth. I had way too much fun at this event though (read: laughed too much), that by the time it ended I was already wheezing because of my asthma haha ;; Komiket was great though! Looking forward to the next one!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/940/42098807060_504ec3f343_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/852/43055057185_31e6dd43e7_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Komiket haul! Mostly stickers for my journal. I tagged all the artists <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BfpxL4GA5Ek" target=_blank>on my IG</a>, if you're curious! My favorite find was this hugeass sticker from Bunbuns! We've always said that Mori looks a lot like an owl, so I was so surprised to see an owlcat (cat-owl??) sticker that looks so much like her. It reminded me a lot of Mori, so I had to get it! <br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/933/43189278084_393aec4d3a_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I felt really lonely looking at the two kittens that were left with us, so I wanted to find good homes for them as soon as possible. Luckily, the reliever at the vet where we bring our cats told us she was interested in adopting the tortoiseshell kitten. She mentioned it about a month or so ago, but we didn't think she would go through with it. We dropped the kitty off at the vet the night of Aian's birthday dinner. I'm happy she got adopted, but a bit sad that I couldn't take one last photo of them together. (The last one I took of the two of them was from <a href="/2018/07/january-2018.html" target=_blank>January</a>.) The last kitty was left with us. He stayed outside for a while before <strike>my incessant whining about how lonely he is finally got to Aian and</strike> we decided to take him in as one of ours. We named him Buchi, which means 'spot' in Japanese.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1777/43055056765_19becafaa3_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Aian's birthday dinner at Sambokojin! We don't know if it's because we've eaten at better Korean BBQ places before, or if the quality of the meat changed quite a bit since the last time we were here, but it was just ok.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1798/43055056135_ec61bd94e9_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/856/43055055745_bd9ae2b0b4_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1772/43960335971_23a39fec70_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1836/42151736500_27dbb988dd_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1778/42151736520_a098bcc1ce_o.jpg" alt="February 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Just some photos of our cats...being cats.</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-8466161250245742222018-07-17T16:00:00.001+08:002018-07-17T16:00:53.831+08:00life lately #6<div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MZjGrhab-bk/W02TR-nCuGI/AAAAAAAADn8/QGaxoKkDPPENiHKOvioGLLyJOU0_ksWYwCLcBGAs/s1600/life-lately.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />Hello Internet friends! I hope you're all doing well and taking care of yourselves :) Lately life has been boring, as always, but I've learned and grown to like my uneventful life. There's peace in the mundane, at least. 🌿 Here's a quick life recap, in case you were wondering what I've been up to recently. <br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1807/43414257242_2ce3d35778_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fas fa-pencil-alt"></i> <h8>JLPT</h8><br />On July 1st, Aian and I took the <b>JLPT</b>. Aian took the N5 exam, while I took N4. I don't know about Aian, but for me..... it was a disaster. Complete and utter defeat! The only <i>kanji</i> I was 100% sure of, was the one for <i>natsu</i> (夏), LOL. I was pretty confident with the listening exam, up until they started using words I haven't encountered before. I have no excuses though, as I didn't study for the exam at all. I was too absorbed in other things that I didn't even open my textbook once. Oh well. At least now I have a solid grasp of what the N4 exam is like. I plan to take the exam again next year, when I'm more prepared.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1826/28500964077_7cc4a74d27_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fas fa-tv"></i> <h8>Films + Anime + Produce48</h8><br />Last month I got to see <b><i>Isle of Dogs</i></b>! I waited two months (!!) for the Philippine release. It was so good! Pretty much what you'd expect of a Wes Anderson film. I loved <i>Fantastic Mr. Fox</i>, so I already knew I would love <i>Isle of Dogs</i> just as much. My eyes were glued to the screen the whole time, and I even teared up at certain parts. (Strays are particularly close to my heart, so this movie made me feel so many things.) The only thing that kept me from enjoying the movie to the fullest though, was that my inability to understand most of the Japanese conversation. There must be a reason why some parts weren't translated, and I understood that, but I felt bad because I could pick up a few words but couldn't follow completely. I felt good whenever I could read some of the words flashed on screen though! My main takeaway from the movie was that I needed to study more, haha. _(´ཀ`」 ∠)_ <br /><br />Also got to see <b><i>Ocean's 8</i></b>! I was super excited for this one as well. I loved the Ocean's trilogy, but an Ocean's film featuring an all-girls ensemble? With Helena Bonham Carter <i>-and-</i> Rihanna?? I was stoked. Prior to seeing the film, I read some reviews about how it wasn't as ~action-packed~ as the first three films. I liked it anyway. Besides, I'll take a story about girls being awesome over any action-packed story any day. Plus, Ocean's 8 had <a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/7xm7ee/cate-blanchett-oceans-8-fashion-gay" target="_blank">Cate Blanchett wearing a bunch of awesome outfits</a>. What's not to like?<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1821/42466242385_13f454758e_o.png" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />Aian and I recently watched <b><i>Yuru Camp</i></b>, a slice of life series about cute girls who love camping. It came out earlier this year, but we didn't know about it at the time. I got curious about the anime after seeing some friends post about it. I'm so glad we decided to check it out because the series was so cute! EVERYONE WAS SO CUTE. (One of the main characters, Shimarin, reminds me so much of <i>mori girls</i> u w u) Story-wise, the whole series was pretty chill (the title is "laid-back camp", after all), which I liked. It's nice to watch series like these from time to time. Plus, trying to actively understand the dialogues help a lot with honing <i>Nihongo</i> listening skills.<br /><br />We've also started with the Summer anime, but nothing's really jumping out to me yet. I found <b><i>Asobi Asobase</i></b> super funny though! But then again, I'm very partial towards crack anime lol.<br /><br />If you'd like to see all the other anime I watched / am watching in 2018, you can check out my AniList <a href="https://anilist.co/user/chainyan/animelist" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BuNFk0XULBA/W02DFnOPj3I/AAAAAAAADno/Q5jRpN4EZAY67nkBEKgk2Jo4XsSl5MTAACLcBGAs/s1600/nekkoya.gif" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />I also finally started watching <b>Produce48</b>, after much deliberation. I wanted to start watching after a few eps were already out, but I got too excited. Now I'm hooked. Some of you who follow me on Twitter may already know, since I scream about it every chance I get. Mnet's constant need for dramatic editing aside, I love this show so much. I love all the girls! I'm SO SOFT for all the Japanese and Korean trainees' interactions. (I JUST. LOVE GIRLS OK) <br /><br />One more thing—I went in not knowing anything about AKB48 and its sister groups, but from watching the show I have a newfound understanding of them. I feel like even after the show is over, I'll continue to be a fan.<br /><br /><i class="fas fa-music"></i> <h8>Music</h8><br />Other than playing <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/2bl024XQdz3Pd4jQLNyaZg" target="_blank"><b>Nekkoya</b></a> on constant loop, I haven't listened to any new music at all. I'm hoping to change that soon! Chungha and Triple H are both coming back with new music tomorrow, I'm super excited!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1785/43456805121_2973bca6c9_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fas fa-shopping-cart"></i> <h8>Recent Purchases</h8><br />Last month Aian and his brother had to go to SM Megamall for their passports, so I came along to accompany them. People who didn't have an appointment weren't allowed to go inside the DFA office though, which meant I had to wait for them to finish. I took this time to drop by Scribe and pick up a new insert for my TN. I got the <b>Weekly+Memo</b> this time! I wasn't sure if I should, because I didn't have a regular-sized TN yet, but I went ahead and got it anyway. I also got myself a new medium-sized <b>Sakura Koi water brush</b>.<br /><br />While I was walking around Mega, I remembered seeing a poster saying that the new The Saem branch had already opened, so I went to check it out. I wanted to buy one of their blushers, but I forgot the name of the shade that I wanted lol;; I bought a new <b>eyebrow pencil</b> instead, since my Innisfree one was almost used up.</div><br /><div class="video_outer_wrap"><div class="video_wrap"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nlD7wkrLmhI?showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /></div></div><div align="justify" class="para"><i class="fas fa-bookmark"></i> <h8>Recent Bookmarks</h8><br />I recently became interested in the topic of personal colors again, all because of this video by Korean makeup artist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sr531/" target="_blank"><b>Saerom Min</b></a>. The video is all in Korean, but basically she talks about which makeup products would best suit people who fell into the "Autumn Mute" or "Soft Autumn" personal color category. Two of the products she mentions are products that I own and really like, which lead me to do more research about Soft/Mute Autumn. I found out that the recommended color palette had a lot of my favorite colors for both clothing and makeup. Which is why I bookmarked the video above, so I know which products to check out next time.<br /><br />I also started following <a href="https://www.instagram.com/__rodee/" target="_blank"><b>@__rodee</b></a> for inspiration. Her skintone is somewhat close to mine, so I get to see which products would maybe look nice on me. I check the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/%EA%B0%80%EC%9D%84%EB%AE%A4%ED%8A%B8/" target="_blank"><b>가을뮤트</b></a> hashtag from time to time as well.<br /><br /><i class="fas fa-calendar-alt"></i> <h8>Looking forward to</h8><br />A bunch of local cons! <b>Best of Anime</b> in August, <b>Cosmania</b> in September, and <b>Komiket</b> in October! More than the cons themselves though, I'm more excited to see all my friends again~~~~<br /><br /><b>What have <i>you</i> been up to lately? :)</b></div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-37032202710732762392018-07-05T03:24:00.000+08:002018-07-05T03:39:19.046+08:00January 2018<div align="justify" class="para"><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PieAYaCUx4g/WzY17fjIfyI/AAAAAAAADnI/pEodWTxygBo0RtXWfFieceklMPhbxjoDQCLcBGAs/s1600/january-2018.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Slowly working my way through 2018 backlog :) January was quite eventful. I met up with friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I also got to try some new foods and activities—the new year is perfect for trying new things, after all!<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/847/42369150824_d294d7c8a5_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/846/43037081762_bee270f257_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1781/42369150694_ae8b673db0_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />On the first week of 2018 I met up with <a href="http://honestsleeep.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Laura</a>, <a href="http://ashleydy.com/" target="_blank">Ashley</a>, and <a href="http://thefoureyedwonder.com/" target="_blank">Allie</a>! Japan-based friends! Around this time in 2017, I met up with Laura and Ashley as well. I'm happy that this time Allie got to join us! We had lunch at Green Pastures in Shang (Ashley's recommendation!) and then did a bit of window shopping before having merienda at Mary Grace. As you can probably tell from our activities that day... it was 100% a tita date, haha. It was fun hanging out and catching up with everyone.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/920/43037081522_be91b3ebc4_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Later that day I met up with <a href="http://wickedalucard.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Aian</a>, who was in Megamall. We had dinner, played Taiko no Tatsujin at the arcade, and then tried our hand at archery. I've always wanted to try archery, but was worried that I didn't have enough arm strength to pull the arrow. It was unexpectedly fun! Things got a bit heated though, because Aian and I are both very competitive. But it was fun. I want to do it again soon!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1770/42369150644_bed815aa9d_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1781/43037081112_6670cc0f52_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/840/42369150474_e66cb33418_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1826/42369150324_64ee9a58a6_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/847/43088134581_f8a44d1225_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1765/42369150184_af1d867809_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />In that same week, Aian and I went to ATC to meet up with our friend Xandra. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/commonroomph/" target="_blank">Common Room</a> was holding a pop-up event at the time, so we dropped by while we were waiting. There was A TON of pretty stationery that I wanted to buy, but one of the rules that created for myself for 2018 is to not give in to impulsive buying, so I had to settle for just looking around.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/921/29215361938_eec235c9ac_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1829/42369150414_4b50c05fdd_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/836/43037080662_e110ef239f_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />We had cake at Mary Grace! My second Mary Grace cake that week. I've only ever tried the tiramisu, so I wanted to try their strawberry shortcake next. It was so good! Afterwards, we all went to hang out at Xandra's.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1770/43088888521_b3a05aec96_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />My first attempt at journaling! Which somewhat ended in failure, because the cats kept bothering me while I was doing it. (Also yes, our apartment's lighting really is that bad....)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/919/29216153758_eb91938783_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Grocery day! Discovered that they sold Indomie in packs of 5 at the local supermarket, amazing. Also got to try BLK513 for the first time. I wasn't a froyo person before this, but I learned to like it eventually.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/833/43088888601_e5194c311c_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1805/29216153478_3a56eb8efc_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Two-week birthday celebration! A tita from my mother's side celebrated her birthday on the 13th, so the whole fam had lunch at La Fiesta. Exactly one week after that—the 20th—was my younger brother's birthday. We celebrated at a nearby private resort. Night swimming!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1770/43098598382_3273a1304c_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />The highlight of my January!! On the 24th, the Japan Foundation finally posted the scores for the JLPT. After almost two months of waiting! I was so anxious the day before that I almost had a panic attack at home. So when I went online the next day to check the results, I felt a wave of relief pass over me once I saw my score. My total score wasn't that good but seeing all A's was so fulfilling. I was super happy. It made me all the more determined to challenge the next level.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/919/43088888421_35b59fb35e_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />My sweet foster children &hearts; Buchi (right) is actually a foster failure—we ended up adopting him ourselves, lol. When this photo was taken, they were already 4 months old. <br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1762/29216153148_8aec3dcbf1_o.jpg" alt="January 2018 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Finally, the event that capped off the first month of the year perfectly—the Super Blue Blood Moon! Before this, the last time it occurred was in 1982. We were super lucky that we were able to get a good view of the whole eclipse as it happened. The actual thing was beautiful, but my phone could only take this kind of photo lol. Still, I'll never forget the image of the moon that night. I saved it in my heart! <i>Jeojang</i>~~</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-80049801302709073992018-06-24T19:59:00.002+08:002018-07-24T21:51:22.461+08:00review + swatches : Clio Rouge Heel Velvet<div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9guvth_GWRs/Wy9zxxwgq8I/AAAAAAAABdI/ONbFOAhAy-oEeI12pmSUXmrLpwgriQINQCLcBGAs/s1600/clio-rouge-heel-velvet.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br />The <b>Clio Rouge Heel Velvet</b>* lipsticks have been in my radar for months now. Ever since a bunch of my fave Korean beauty Youtubers started posting about them, I'd been waiting for these babies to come to Manila shores. And they finally did! I got these during the Edward Avila x Club Clio event last month, where the Clio Rouge Heel Velvet and the Clio Nudism Velvetwear Cushion were officially launched. (Thank you so much, Club Clio!) <br /><br />Since I got them, I've found myself only ever reaching for these when doing my makeup. Today I'll be showing you swatches of the five Rouge Heel Velvets that I have—<b>01 Red to Go</b>, <b>05 Pink Me Up</b>, <b>07 Bird Kiss</b>, <b>08 Touch Moment</b>, and <b>10 Good Mauve</b>. I'm also supposed to be reviewing these, but my opinions on this lipstick are way too biased at this point, lol. I just love them so much 😭 So at the very least, I hope you find the swatches useful!<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1811/29107732568_5d2c4a4a5e_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /></div><div class="deets"><b>Clio Rouge Heel Velvet</b><br />3.4g // ₱850</div><div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1808/42915446192_d4419b20bc_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P4x9d8NclTU/Wy9tB6m36nI/AAAAAAAABc8/9GtEwMt2n_got9GEFktNf_5AK3Q_71NUACLcBGAs/s1600/2.gif" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet Lipsticks | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1767/41154772890_11451eb6c1_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><b>Clio Rouge Heel Velvets</b> are highly pigmented lipsticks with a velvety matte finish. They glide on effortlessly, and deliver vibrant high-impact color in one stroke. The lipsticks feature a beautiful stiletto design made to follow the curve of the lips for easier product application. Another unique feature of these lipsticks is a click-lock mechanism which ensures that they don't accidentally open in your bag. Just make sure that you click before turning to open the lipstick, or turn the lipstick well before putting the cap back on to close it, or else you'll end up ruining the bullet (like I did with one of mine here, as you can see lol).<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1805/42246213684_d32d4cfc4c_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br />Currently, there are 14 Clio Rouge Heel Velvet colors in total. The first 10 are part of the main line-up, while the other 4 are part of the limited edition Play Mymy Collection. Only colors 1-10 are currently available locally.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1823/41154772520_1e8c741e63_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br />Official swatches by Clio vs my own swatches. I've already learned not to trust official swatches so much, since it was always a game of Expectations vs Reality when it came to Peripera's Ink Velvets. As you can see, some of the colors are way off. What I will say though, that these lipsticks are SUPER PIGMENTED.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1806/42811038262_41fec19221_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1721/42811038132_d9114a9868_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><b>01 Red To Go</b> – Clio describes this as the "<i>ultimate classic red</i>". From the official photos, I was expecting it to be more warm-toned, but on my swatch and on my lips it appears more neutral. The color is a bit similar to Revlon's Fire and Ice. Just as described, it's a classic, wearable red that will suit most skin tones.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1787/42811038592_e3f793d107_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1789/42811038452_c06fcc6286_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><b>05 Pink Me Up</b> – Described as "<i>a vibrant pinkish peach</i>". This one actually surprised me when I swatched it. So vibrant! And the color is just as pretty on the lips. I actually love this particular shade of pink because I find that it well with my warm skintone. It's a great spring/summer color. It's also great for when you need a quick pick-me-up. (Hence the name, I'm assuming!)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1758/28987681248_c8e80afb81_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/895/41049706550_983858bced_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><b>07 Bird Kiss</b> – Described as "<i>a pure coral pink</i>". This color looked quite vivid on the official swatches, but in real life it appears more muted. It's a very pretty peachy coral that can be worn with any makeup look. It's a color that I know a lot of people would like.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1802/28987680958_94283d46c9_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1761/41049705280_dd5dd9224a_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><b>08 Touch Moment</b> – aka the peach lipstick of my dreams!! Described as "<i>a sophisticated peach beige</i>", this MLBB lipstick has become my new go-to for everyday. I like wearing this either on its own or with one of my Peripera Ink Velvets. SO GOOD. Definitely my favorite from the five Rouge Heel Velvet colors that I have.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1801/28987680768_a693be9f25_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1767/41049704900_c462a6a010_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br /><b>10 Good Mauve</b> – Clio describes this color as "<i>urban brick rose</i>". This is another color that I was surprised by. Rather than mauve, the color is more of a warm rosy brown. I usually stay away from darker lipsticks because they tend to make me look 5 years older, but this lipstick is very wearable and flattering. Another beautiful MLBB color!<br /><br />Texture-wise, their claims of a soft velvet finish really holds true. I developed a dislike for matte lip products when I was introduced to matte lip lacquers, because they all felt like I had paint on my lips when I wore them. But with this, my opinions on matte lipsticks have changed considerably. The only downside is that it's not transfer-proof. It's still fairly long-lasting though, so it's not much of a problem.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1771/42078581655_e0162afbe9_o.jpg" alt="Clio Rouge Heel Velvet | chainyan.co"><br />My #1 go-to lip products are Peripera's Ink Velvet Tints, so naturally I was curious as to how the velvet lippies from Peripera's older sister, Clio, would fare. Super pigmented, beautiful velvet matte finish, and fairly long-lasting. I didn't think I'd end up liking them so much. Before this, I'd only ever used Clio's base and eye makeup. With this discovery, I've become more curious about their lip products now. I'm currently eyeing their Mad Matte Tints. They have a color called "Chai Tea Latte", which I'm hoping to try soon! ;)<br /><br />The <b>Rouge Heel Velvet</b> is priced at <b>₱850</b> each, and is available in all Club Clio stores. Visit the Club Clio <a href="https://www.facebook.com/clubclioph/" target="_blank">Facebook Page</a> for more info on where to buy Clio products in the Philippines.</div><br /><div class="disc"><b>DISCLAIMER:</b> The products in this post were received as a gift from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/clubclioph/" target="_blank">Club Clio</a>, but the opinions expressed here are 100% my own. Financial compensation was not received for this post. Please see my full <a href="/p/disc.html" target="_blank">disclaimer</a> for more information.</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-24665728752534864742018-06-15T04:54:00.003+08:002018-06-28T21:16:34.299+08:00December 2017<div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCtrMpMajgg/WyFROwAX2gI/AAAAAAAABb4/hNoF6sFEkacZ5bESQJ6Y24IhsRCkN_GdQCLcBGAs/s1600/december-2017.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />The last of my 2017 photo diaries. With this, I'm finally done with my 2017 backlog! I still have photos from our annual KL trip, but I have way too many stories from that time, so that deserves a post—or, several posts—of its own. For now, snippets of December through my phone. Most photos presented without comment, because my brain can't remember much of what I did six months ago.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/899/41878093695_70c7799652_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1746/41878093215_e281d4bcc4_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1740/28904864418_55c1523962_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1749/41878092915_f7fc308a44_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />In December I finally scratched off one of my life goals—to take the JLPT. (And pass, but that's a story for another time.) With this, I added a new goal: to reach JLPT level N3. After the exam, I met up with friends to hang out.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/888/28904864168_32cab54b6c_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/895/41878092525_85c2eac59f_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1737/28904863768_476a418db5_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1753/28904863458_83aeb04eca_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/888/28904863088_f9bfc41d49_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I also cut about 11 inches of my hair off. I meant to donate it to Makati Med's Cancer Center, but I haven't been able to schedule a visit until now. My hair's still in a ziplock bag in one of my drawers at home, lol.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1745/28904862818_61cbef686c_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/896/28904863438_e995a94844_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1742/27909801047_a8e3191cd6_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1733/27909800427_f927f2bbfd_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1728/27909800057_7ffc489db8_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1729/41878095315_7753dca012_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1724/28904866618_2e24eda2bd_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1734/28904866368_83e5182a23_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1722/41878094625_c4b0034baf_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/884/28904865938_8ff36344cf_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1749/41878094365_e1810e0fe8_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/883/28904865698_1e9048b9b6_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Mid-December, <a href="http://wickedalucard.tumblr.com/" target=_blank>Aian</a> and I went on our yearly KL trip. We went to Comic Fiesta, met up with friends, etc. I have about 4 (or 5??) days' worth of photos and memories, so I'll write about it next time!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1743/41878094025_8e93090f66_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1738/28904865268_03fa37e714_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/900/28904863058_65322650da_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1757/42728842722_cd6a6a1e62_o.jpg" alt="December 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"></div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-43480512145694101962018-06-08T12:16:00.006+08:002018-06-28T21:16:36.248+08:00#YourSkinCompletesMakeup with Althea Bare Essentials<div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gNT2mryO1hM/WvMBcOhNnRI/AAAAAAAABZ4/jW3HqodgDbsFwMOlNyFT589UVYFgji6zgCLcBGAs/s1600/1.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"><br />As an Asian beauty enthusiast, I'm no stranger to <a href="https://ph.althea.kr/" target="_blank"><b>Althea</b></a>. I browse their site almost regularly, checking in to see what hot new products they have in store every now and then. Last year they also came out with a hot new product of their own, the <a href="/2017/08/althea-petal-velvet-powder.html"><b>Petal Velvet Powder</b></a>*, which became a favorite of mine almost instantly. And so when I got word earlier this year that they were coming out with their own skincare products, and that got me super excited! I'm equally as excited to be talking about it today—the <a href="https://ph.althea.kr/bare-essentials" target="_blank"><b>Althea Bare Essentials</b></a>* skincare line!<br /><a name='more'></a><br />Are you someone who wants to get started with Asian skincare, but always found it intimidating and don't know where to start? Or are you someone who has all these skincare products, but no time to deal with doing a multi-step routine in the morning/night? Althea recongized these problems and came up with a solution. With its new skincare line, Althea strips down to the bare essentials of skincare – hence the name. This line only consists of 3 products: a <b>cleanser</b>, a <b>toner</b>, and a <b>moisturizer</b>. <br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/823/40186749970_b67a5b645c_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"></div><div class="deets"><b>Contour Cleanser</b><br />150g/5.29 oz<br />₱300</div><div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/906/40186749840_6d1b3fd11e_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"><br /><a href="https://ph.althea.kr/contour-cleanser" target="_blank"><b>Contour Cleanser</b></a> - a rich and refreshing foaming cleanser that contains microcapsules to both cleanse and gently exfoliate away impurities while improving blood circulation for that V-shaped look. <br /><br />Key ingredients: <b>Ice plant</b> which hydrates and calms redness; <b>Lemon myrtle</b> which is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants to strengthen the skin. Full ingredients list + analysis <a href="https://www.skincarisma.com/products/althea/contour-cleanser" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/959/40186749670_bff2ed571e_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"><br />The very first item in the skincare line is the <b>Contour Cleanser</b>. The most basic of all skincare steps. If you're way too tired for anything, the least you can do is wash your face before collapsing into bed, right? This foam cleanser removes dirt and makeup residue without leaving my skin feeling tight. It also has microcapsules for gentle exfoliation. The microcapsules are tiny and dissolve with water, and don't feel abrasive against the skin at all. My favorite thing about it though, is the cooling effect. Feels so good especially in 35° weather! <br /><br />Another plus point for me is the strong lemon verbena scent. I like scents like these because they're very invigorating. But I'm not sure others would be okay with it. From my experience with skincare, I know that products with strong fragrances have a tendency to cause breakouts or irritation in some people, so that might be a problem. I personally didn't experience any problems with this, but YMMV.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/827/41525082804_0ac4a95b8b_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"><br />I initially thought the reason why the product was named 'Contour Cleanser' was because they were referring to the contours of the face, lol. It turns out that the reason was because you can use the cleanser to create a rich and creamy lather, which you can use to massage your face while cleansing.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/965/28373561288_4b988485e7_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"></div><div class="deets"><b>Primer Water</b><br />200ml/6.76fl.oz<br />₱550</div><div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AjO7s-UU-Ew/Ww6zQoWd_3I/AAAAAAAABak/ZdxZ9oXY5acXdGcg7rauld5u0nIfveKGQCLcBGAs/s1600/7x.gif" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"><br /><a href="https://ph.althea.kr/primer-water" target="_blank"><b>Primer Water</b></a> - smooth, hydrating and ever so slightly balm-like, this bottle of wonder penetrates into the layers of the skin to plump them up, prepping the skin and making it a smooth canvas for products to come. <br /><br />Key ingredients: <b>Snow Lotus</b> which smoothens and brightens the skin while evening out its texture; <b>Patented 'dewdrop' formulation</b> which revitalizes the skin and provides immediate, effective moisture. Full ingredients list + analysis <a href="https://www.skincarisma.com/products/althea/primer-water" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/958/41525082564_b75621dfd2_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"><br />The second item in the set is the <b>Primer Water</b>, which is a hydrating toner that's watery, but similar to a serum in texture. It's similar to my favorite Hada Labo lotions, in that regard. It's very hydrating, yet lightweight and non-greasy. Plus it absorbs fairly quickly! It doesn't feel sticky upon application so you can use this for the 3-skin or 7-skin method as well. In the mornings, I use this with a cotton pad to wipe my face, and then apply another layer of the Primer Water using my hands.<br /><br />One thing to note is that this does have fragrance, as well as alcohol. The scent is a bit strong at first, but disperses quickly. I don't have a problem with alcohol in skincare per se, but I do feel cautious about using a toner with alcohol in it, especially since I use it every day. I've been using this for 3 months now though, with no apparent negative effects. (Please always remember to patch test before using new products!)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/977/42246905271_2ba70038e4_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"></div><div class="deets"><b>Fixer Cream</b><br />50g/1.76 oz<br />₱620</div><div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/975/41525082464_ee3920ebdb_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"><br /><a href="https://ph.althea.kr/fixer-cream" target="_blank"><b>Fixer Cream</b></a> - powerful moisturizing properties are packed into this little jar that provides the skin with hydration for up to 24 hours for a fresh, revitalized complexion. <br /><br />Key ingredients: <b>Trehalose</b> which is a powerful humectant that retains moisture on the skin; <b>Wild Green Tea</b> which is hydrating, skin soothing and packed with antioxidants; <b>Baobab Tree Extract</b> which is a non-greasy moisturizing agent that helps promote collagen production. (I also found out that this product contains <b>Centella Asiatica</b>, which in 2017 became a hot ingredient in the Korean skincare scene because of its anti-inflammatory and anti-acne properties.) Full ingredients list + analysis <a href="https://www.skincarisma.com/products/althea/fixer-cream" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/956/41525082944_3e79d9af15_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"><br />Last but not least is this <b>Fixer Cream</b>! This is my favorite product in the set! It's a cream, but the texture is slightly gel-like. It's hydrating and moisturizing, but also not at all greasy. For a cream, it actually feels very light on the skin! Perfect for us living in climates. Upon application, it does feel a bit tacky, but after a few minutes it'll absorb right into the skin. The first night that I used this, I woke up with my skin feeling soft. Not oily at all! <br /><br />I use the Fixer Cream during both morning and night. At first I was hesitant to try and use this during the day because I have oily skin, but somehow it just works for me! The trick is to apply it on the drier parts of your face like the cheeks and then spread it from there. Pat until it's fully absorbed into the skin before moving onto the next step. I've worn it under makeup and I didn't get super oily or anything! <br /><br />I tried thinking of what I didn't like about this product, and I couldn't pinpoint one thing exactly. The only issue I had with this was the packaging, which was SO HARD TO OPEN. I'm not sure if the pressure of having it shipped out did something, but it took me MINUTES of using SHEER BRUTE FORCE to open it. I still remember my hands getting red from that time, lol. Other than the issue with the packaging, the product itself is great.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/944/40186750390_0ca2700a44_o.jpg" alt="Althea Bare Essentials | chainyan.co"><br />Overall, the Althea Bare Essentials Set is a great skincare line with all the basics covered. You actually only need to add sunscreen to this formula and you're all set! For more seasoned skincare veterans though, this might not be for you. (Unless you're looking to downsize your skincare routine, that is!) Also, for people with very specific skin problems such as dark spots or acne, just using this set won't be enough. This is great for keeping your skin looking healthy and soft, but you'll still need specific serums and treatments to target your skin problems. That said, you can use this as your bare-bones routine, and then just add what you need. I have dark spots, so I added a Vitamin C serum to the mix. I also add a serum or essence depending on what I feel like my skin needs. I like that the Bare Essentials Set works well with all my other products in this way. <br /><br />My current routine kind of looks like this:<br /><div align="center" class="sc"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="50%" style="text-align:center;"><h7>Morning routine</h7></td><td width="50%" style="text-align:center;"><h7>Evening routine</h7></td></tr><tr><td width="50%" style="text-align:left;"><ol><li>Cleanse with water</li><li>Wipe face with the Primer Water + cotton pad</li><li>Apply Primer Water with my hands</li><li>Apply Fixer Cream on my cheeks, then spread the remaining cream on the rest of my face</li><li>Apply sunscreen</li></ol></td><td width="50%" style="text-align:left;"><ol><li>Remove makeup with micellar water</li><li>Cleanse with Contour Cleanser</li><li>Apply Vitamin C serum, wait 15 minutes</li><li>Wipe face with the Primer Water + cotton pad</li><li>Apply Primer Water with my hands</li><li>If I'm not <i>super tired</i>, apply essence of choice</li><li>Apply and massage Fixer Cream on my whole face</li></ol></td></tr></table></div>Personally, as someone who stopped doing proper skincare for a long time, the Bare Essentials line helped me get used to doing a multi-step routine again. <br /><br />You can get the <b>Althea Bare Essentials Set</b> <a href="https://ph.althea.kr/bare-essentials" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>. You can choose to buy each item individually, or get them <a href="https://ph.althea.kr/catalog/product/view/id/10583/s/bare-essentials-set/category/663/">as a set</a>. If you choose the latter, you get a 10% discount (<b>₱1,323</b> instead of ₱1,470!), plus a free hand mirror! :)</div><br /><div class="disc"><b>DISCLAIMER:</b> The products in this post were sent to me by <a href="https://ph.althea.kr/" target="_blank">Althea Korea</a> for review, but the opinions expressed here are 100% my own. Financial compensation was not received for this post. Please see my full <a href="/p/disc.html" target="_blank">disclaimer</a> for more information.</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-34730982248795751982018-06-04T10:26:00.005+08:002018-07-12T00:07:36.005+08:00life lately #5<div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3gMkwVX_Nbs/WxScsuUURUI/AAAAAAAABbM/50IruMo8eQMW7SKSesOdhc4WQXCOpY6ogCLcBGAs/s1600/life%2Blately.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />Hey everyone, I'm back! Some of you might have noticed that it's been quiet around here recently. I don't have any real reason for that though, heh. I simply wanted to take a step back from my blog and social media for a while. Just a tiiiny step back. But while I returned to using Twitter and Instagram a couple of weeks later, I <i>somehow</i> ended up neglecting my blog for a month. And on top of that, my domain AND my debit card ended up expiring at the same time, so it took me a while to get the blog back up. But hey, <b>I'm still alive!</b><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1737/27673769637_145c1d0edf_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-book"></i> <h8>Reading</h8><br />Haven't been reading any books lately. (That is, unless you consider my trying to cram as much of my Genki books in my head as I can before the July JLPT as "reading".) I've been reading <b>a ton of manga</b> though, as usual. I recently re-read older works by <b>Hayakawa Nojiko</b>. I also contemplated continuing <i>Haikyuu!!</i> since things seem to be getting exciting, but I've already deleted my <strike>ad-ridden</strike> manga reader app and I can't be bothered to download manga to read on the PC (what is this, 2007?). I've decided to just buy the physical copies when we visit KL again and pick up from where I left then.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1722/28663492088_0e35f81510_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-pencil"></i> <h8>Writing</h8><br />Just the usual <b>daily writing on the journal</b>. I've been using the same setup for the <b>Midori Passport TN</b> since I started—<b>Free Monthly</b> for schedules, <b>Free Weekly</b> for my daily writing, <b>Grid</b> for any lists or notes. I've also been using the default Blank for drawing and watercolor practice, but having 4 refills on top of a Zipper Case is a bit too much for one TN, so I left it out. I'll probably get it a home of its own soon. I found that this current setup works really well for me, so I'm very happy about that. Mostly because that means I don't need to keep buying and trying any other refills, lol. My only gripe with my current TN is that sometimes the small size feels quite restraining (not a lot of room to put stickers or photos), so I'm thinking of a bigger notebook in the future. Maybe a regular-sized TN <i>orrr</i> something slightly bigger, like a Moleskine notebook.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1745/27654586687_e69a30e823_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-tv"></i> <h8>Watching</h8><br />Aian and I started watching <b>Brooklyn Nine-Nine</b> last month! We just finished Season 5 this morning. SO GOOD. Funny story – the week that we finally started getting into the B99 hype train was the same week they went and announced that they were cancelling the series, lol. Good thing they got picked up really quickly, because I would hate not having any more new seasons of this awesome show!<br /><br />For anime, we've only been watching a bunch of series from this season. I'm not that into any of them, so I don't have a lot to say about them, honestly. The only ones I like <strike>enough to not scroll through my Twitter feed while watching</strike> are <i><b>Saiki Kusuo</b></i>, <i><b>Hinamatsuri</b></i>, and <i><b>My Hero Academia</b></i>. I also like <i><b>Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan</b></i>, but that series only updates once every month, sooo. If you'd like to see what other anime I've watched / been watching in 2018, you can check out my AniList <a href="https://anilist.co/user/chainyan/animelist" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1744/27666430047_df1e8c4509_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-music"></i> <h8>Listening to</h8><br />For her 20th anniversary, Queen <b>Ringo</b> put up <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/2XjqKvB2Xz9IdyjWPIHaXi" target="_blank">her entire music catalog</a> on Spotify. All of her music is now available for streaming, so I've been listening to all of my faves. <b><i>Koufukuron</i></b>, <b><i>Marunouchi Sadistic</i></b>, <b><i>Honnou</i></b>, <b><i>Koko de Kiss Shite</i></b>—all the classics! I've also been trying to listen to her other stuff that I'm not so familiar with. She has A LOT of songs though, so it was a bit overwhelming at first, but I'm slowly sifting through her massive discography.<br /><br />In the shower, I'm still listening to my <a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/chainyan/playlist/6eZ4GfJGveRKmuVjYuJnkQ" target="_blank">K-Pop loop playlist</a>. I've updated it recently, taking out a few WINNER (😭) songs and adding some new ones I like—<b>PENTAGON's <i>Shine</i></b>, <b>(G)I-DLE's <i>LATATA</i></b>, <b>MOMOLAND's <i>Bboom Bboom</i></b>, etc.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1740/41837341754_754217d675_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-shopping-bag"></i> <h8>Recently Purchased</h8><br />I'm still doing the don't-buy-unless-you-really-need-it-in-your-life method of saving money, so I haven't been buying anything unnecessary. My most recent purchases were skincare things I'd been meaning to buy since the start of the year, but put off buying because I wasn't sure if I was ready to commit to a full skincare routine again. I talked about this briefly before, but because of a bout of depression late last year, I forgot about skincare completely. When I got better, I went back to doing skincare, but only doing the bare minimum. Cleanse, tone, moisturize. Sunscreen for when I go out. Sheet mask when I feel like it. I kept this up without adding any extras—acids, serums, etc.—until I got comfortable with it again. (Trust me, there were days when the most "skincare" I did was splashing my face with water.) This month I decided to slowly work my way to doing a multi-step routine again. I repurchased my favorite <a href="https://rstyle.me/~auPd4"><b>Banila Co. Clean It Zero</b></a> (Supersize, with the cute new packaging), and bought two new things – the <a href="https://rstyle.me/~asuxL"><b>TIA'M My Signature C Source Vitamin C Serum</b></a>, and the <a href="https://rstyle.me/~auPcC"><b>COSRX Advanced Snail Mucin 96 Power Essence</b></a>. I added these to my current routine starting June 1st, and they're working really well for me so far.</div><br /><div class="video_outer_wrap"><div class="video_wrap"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1m_zxBPXv_4?showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /></div></div><div align="justify" class="para"><i class="fa fa-bookmark"></i> <h8>Recently Bookmarked</h8><br />I've been watching a lot of Youtube videos these days. I watch a lot of Youtube on the regular, but I feel like I spent more time doing it during this past month. I've been watching mostly vlogs and Korean variety show clips. My favorite channel right now belongs to a Japan-based Polish artist named <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/mattjabbar" target="_blank"><b>Mateusz Urbanowicz</b></a>. I found his channel while I was doing research about Makoto Shinkai's work. Mateusz worked on (more than 120!!) backgrounds for <i>Kimi no Na wa</i>. His channel is full of watercolor sketching videos, and a bit of other stuff like digital painting and DIY projects. When I started playing around with watercolors, I was quick to think that maybe it just wasn't for me. Seeing his channel made me want to try it again. I love the way he paints! I think it's because his work reminds me of Ghibli films, which turns out, is also one of his inspirations! He released a book of his work this year, <a href="http://mateuszurbanowicz.com/tokyo-storefront-illustration-series" target="_blank"><i>Tokyo Storefronts</i></a>, and I plan on buying it once I get my hands on a copy.<br /><br />Other channels I've been frequenting: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-auOukLOv2v9OGNTSkOu-Q" target="_blank"><b>So-Ju Twins</b></a> (Malaysian fashion & lifestyle vloggers), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx82ohu9ATU_xBbz-464w0g" target="_blank"><b>YOONGREEN</b></a> (Korean beauty vlogger), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtby6rJtBGgUm-2oD_E7bzw" target="_blank"><b>Cooking tree</b></a> (ASMR cooking videos). As for Instagram, I've added more journaling and food painting accounts to my stalk-list! New faves are <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mini_minor/" target="_blank"><b>@mini_minor</b></a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/naomi_zz_kuwa/" target="_blank"><b>@naomi_zz_kuwa</b></a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kn_oo/" target="_blank"><b>@kn_oo</b></a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/__chrlene/" target="_blank"><b>@__chrlene</b></a>.<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-calendar"></i> <h8>Looking forward to</h8><br /><b>Eiga Sai 2018</b>! <a href="/2017/07/eiga-sai-with-friends.html" target="_blank">Last year</a> I got to watch <i>Chihayafuru 2</i> with friends. They haven't announced the movie lineup for 2018 yet, but I'm hoping I get to watch something with friends this year, as well!<br /><br /><b>What have <i>you</i> been up to lately? :)</b></div><br /><div class="disc">DISCLAIMER: This post contains affiliate links. Clicking those links before you shop means that Chainyan.co receives a small commission, which helps to support the blog. Please see my full <a href="/p/disc.html" target="_blank">disclaimer</a> for more information.</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-40792887345753094512018-04-30T05:28:00.010+08:002018-06-28T21:16:39.477+08:00November 2017<div align=justify class=para><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-icrgK3vQMnk/WtdWkDprVGI/AAAAAAAABZI/8gT8TFmLvSYTZPnXxpb0Tm_CcGeqmgL_wCLcBGAs/s1600/november-2017.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />November last year. It was alright, for the most part. This is what it looked like through my phone.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/854/26671162197_cbbcd45879_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/912/39731336600_ab680f0c72_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/883/41499292152_bc07b948c0_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />November marked one month and a half since Ame started recovering from his mysterious illness. It took weeks of handfeeding him wet food (that had to be heated up because he wouldn't touch food straight out of the fridge), but we finally got him to eat on his own. By the end of November, he'd already gotten back most of the weight he lost.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/870/41499291772_d9a8895c92_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/935/26671159037_901197efe5_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/891/41499291512_9ed0a43963_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/813/26671158777_4a4d05f447_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />There was this one week in November when it kept raining on and off, so it sometimes got really cold in the apartment. This was the daily situation during that time.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/792/41499291072_1a7d8798ee_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/876/41499290912_e81a37fd08_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />The kitty family we'd been taking care of outside kept warm by huddling like this. We used to keep the kittens inside a box so the mama cat would be able to visit them anytime. But after a certain incident where we spent almost two hours drenched in the rain looking for one of the kittens (she got stuck underneath a car), we started keeping the kittens inside a carrier. We would only let them out to nurse from time to time, but never unsupervised.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/893/26671158537_e8776f2f7a_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Finally some sun! Mama cat taking a nap while sunbathing.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/816/41499290692_977e2522f7_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I took this chance to take photos of the kitty siblings so we could put them up for adoption.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/876/41499291212_9800d5f6c2_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/820/41579656551_0b9e7b410a_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />A new kitty friend. She always comes by when it's feeding time.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/938/41579718241_c23c162d70_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/835/26711420377_f5d74624b3_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/875/41538870272_ee2dfa6653_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />There's this place in BF Resort that we would frequent for late night <i>bangsilog</i> (breakfast at night!), but for a time last year, the place would always be closed whenever we checked. We were surprised to see them re-open in November, but with a brand new look. Seems like the place was bought out by someone and then renovated. It looks super nice for a place that serves meals for less than P100! They even have a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TaraLiempoPH" target="_blank">Facebook Page</a> now!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/818/40686934975_f1fbb152d3_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Last year's Christmas installation at SM Southmall + my favorite flowers 💜<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/875/39771633840_141bdf53da_o.jpg" alt="november 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />The highlight of November for me! Earlier that month, <a href="http://wickedalucard.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Aian</a> and I commissioned our super talented friend <a href="http://instagram.com/chichilittle" target="_blank">Chichi</a> for two paintings. Aian's was of Harleth, a character from his story, Echofreak. (You can see the commissioned piece <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BeRckjeB9np/" target="_blank">here</a>.) And mine was of....well, me, basically. _(:3」∠)_ For the longest time, I'd been wanting to commission Chichi for a portrait of myself for the blog, and I finally got to do so in November. I asked Chichi to add my favorite purple hydrangeas to the background, just because. I was so happy when the painting finally got delivered to our home. I mean, look at it! It's SO PRETTY. Putting aside the fact that it's a painting of my face (LOL), there's a reason why that painting made me so happy. You see, the latter half of 2017 wasn't a very good time for me. I already talked a bit about this in <a href="/2018/01/2017-goal-recap.html" target="_blank">a previous post</a>. I was dealing with a lot of personal issues then, particularly with my self-esteem. I was at a really low point, and couldn't even look at myself at the mirror anymore. One of the things that helped me ~<i>snap out of it</i>~, so to say, was this painting. I looked at it and thought, "<i>ah, so Chichi sees me in this way</i>". The thought that I could look this cute in the eyes of someone else made me feel very warm inside. That really helped me start to get back on my feet. I only meant to use this painting as a profile photo for the blog, but it turned out to mean something more. I plan to buying a nice frame for it in the future 💜</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chainoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-16935929826411541652018-04-23T16:54:00.012+08:002018-06-28T21:16:40.656+08:00review + swatches : Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel<div align=justify class="para"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h-JtEK5cjEw/WP_27PnulhI/AAAAAAAAC6Q/TZg5IlkyokMY7XwRsiDjtxhBljpjaGmwACLcB/s1600/canmake-lip%2526cheek-gel.jpg" title="Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel | chainyan.co"><br />Hey everyone, long time no beauty post! :) I've had this one sitting in my drafts for a while, and I finally found the time to sit down and write the review today. Today I'll be reviewing two of <a href="https://www.canmakeph.com/product-page/lip-cheek-gel" target="_blank"><b>Canmake's Lip & Cheek Gels</b></a>*, which have been a staple in my beauty bag ever since I got them! 💖<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2811/33889599160_dcbf1ed256_o.jpg" title="Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel | chainyan.co"></div><div class="deets"><b>Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel</b><br />01 Strawberry Mousse + 02 Apple Mango Parfait<br />SPF24 PA+ // 1.5g // ₱540</div><div align=justify class="para"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2868/34142518061_8bf4783554_o.jpg" title="Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>CANMAKE LIP & CHEEK GEL</h4>The <b>Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel</b> is <b>a lip and cheek gel offering a burst of color</b>. Features <b>a meltingly smooth texture</b>, <b>superb staying power</b>, and various <b>beautifying and moisturizing agents</b>. Coordinate your makeup perfectly with this 2-in-1 product! &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4173/33463592223_493ce787d8_o.jpg" title="Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>PACKAGING</h4>As with all of Canmake's products, the packaging is <i>suuuper</i> cute! It's quite small, so it fits in the smallest of pouches. My favorite part is the small mirror, which makes it easy for me to touch up my blush or lip makeup at anywhere and anytime. (Although from experience, I've never actually had to touch up my blush, heheh.)<br /><br /><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2861/33889595490_eb13898347_o.jpg" title="Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>COLOR & TEXTURE</h4>As of this writing, there are currently <b>7 colors</b> of the Lip & Cheek Gel in total. The first one I have is <b>01 Strawberry Mousse</b>, which is described as <i>"a red that creates an adorably baby-cute look"</i>. It seems like a <b>neutral red</b> from the pan, but against my skin, it's more <b>warm-toned</b>. The second one is <b>02 Apple Mango Parfait</b>, which is <i>"an orange that creates a sense of freshness"</i>. It's a <b>vivid red-orange</b> color. Both are translucent and shimmer-free, and very pigmented. I have light-medium skin with warm undertones, and both of these colors show up well on me.<br /><br /><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4273/34624942000_a6d319e307_o.jpg" title="Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4270/34168510364_602dc27037_o.jpg" title="Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel | chainyan.co"><br />These are gel-creams, so they're smoother and slippier in texture than Canmake's Cream Cheek line. That means they're easier to blend out, but also that they're slightly more difficult to apply if you're heavy-handed like I am. Because the Lip & Cheek Gels spread out more easily, there's a tendency to apply too much. They're very pigmented, so a little goes a long way. (My tip for application: apply two-three dots in the middle of wherever you apply your blush, then carefully spread outwards from that point. Add one more dot in the middle, and then repeat.) <br /><br /><h4>PERFORMANCE</h4>I have oily skin so my makeup always starts breaking down after the 5-6 hour mark, even with setting powder. By the end of the day, the blush is still there, although not as visible as upon application. Even so, it's still pretty impressive. Plus, reapplication isn't a problem—the product itself is quite small, so I can carry it with me anywhere.<br /><br />As a lip product though, the Lip & Cheek Gel is not as long-lasting. It performs more like a tinted lip balm rather than a lip tint, so you'll have to reapply after eating and drinking. It's great for daily use, but I personally prefer longer-lasting lip colors, so I use this product exclusively on the cheeks.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/905/27968551838_c709ccb662_o.jpg" title="Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/958/27968551078_123e46c88a_o.jpg" title="Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel | chainyan.co"><br /><center><cap>Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel in 02 Apple Mango Parfait</cap></center><br /><h4>FINAL THOUGHTS</h4>Super pigmented, long-lasting, not at all sticky. A little product goes a long way, so they last you a long time. If you loved Canmake's Cream Cheek line, then you'll love the Lip & Cheek Gel as well. Honestly, they're more or less the same, but I prefer these to the original Cream Cheeks. Only because I prefer the slippy texture of the Lip & Cheek Gels! It all depends on your personal preference :)<br /><br />You can get the Canmake Lip & Cheek Gel for <b>₱540</b> on the <a href="https://www.canmakeph.com/product-page/lip-cheek-gel" target="_blank"><b>Canmake PH webshop</b></a>. You can also find Canmake in most <b>Landmark</b>, <b>PCX</b>, <b>Watsons</b>, and <b>SM Department Store Beauty Sections</b>. Click <a href="https://www.canmakeph.com/where-to-buy" target="_blank">here</a> for more info on where to buy Canmake in the Philippines.</div><br /><div class="disc"><b>DISCLAIMER:</b> The products in this post were sent to me by <a href="http://www.canmakeph.com/" target="_blank">CANMAKE Philippines</a> for review, but the opinions expressed here are 100% my own. Financial compensation was not received for this post. Please see my full <a href="http://www.chainyan.co/p/disc.html" target="_blank">disclaimer</a> for more information.</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-12883292910572737902018-04-01T09:09:00.010+08:002018-06-28T21:16:42.022+08:00life lately #4<div class="para" align="justify"><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_rAF8fFUoq0/WsApIh3--pI/AAAAAAAABWQ/EbMa71sJn9AFf8hoTfI2R-ZPHh7zLhSzACLcBGAs/s1600/life-lately.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />Hello everyone, and happy Easter! Apologies for being away for a whole month. Life has been... busy. As some of you may know, I recently started getting into journaling and watercolor painting. I've been enjoying them more than I expected, so I haven't been able to focus on anything else. I haven't even been posting on Instagram. But I've been taking photos the whole time. This led to photos piling up on my phone, and I became a bit confused as to how I was going to post them. (If it's from November, it doesn't exactly count as "life lately", does it?) <br /><br />And so, I decided to move a few things around. From now on, posts tagged with '<a href="/search/label/life lately" target="_blank">life lately</a>' will be more like occasional life updates. Kind of like <a href="http://meetmeatmikes.com/taking-stock/" target="_blank">Taking Stock</a> and <a href="http://siddathornton.blogspot.com/2011/07/the-sunday-currently.html" target="_blank">The Sunday Currently</a>. All monthly stories will go under the '<a href="/search/label/photodiary" target="_blank">photodiary</a>' tag. You'll also find all the posts previously tagged with 'life lately' there. Hope this makes everything more organized somehow! Now that that's out of the way, let's get on with this update!✨<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/785/41146681571_5c158bdfc5_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-book"></i> <h8>Reading</h8><br />In the middle of <b><i>Spark Joy</i> by Marie Kondo</b>. Reading it made me want to do some tidying up of my own, so I stopped halfway. I've been meaning to pick up where I left off, but I keep getting distracted by other things. (Journaling.. Garupa....) <br /><br />I've also been backreading posts on one of my favorite blogs, <a href="http://yakusokuyama.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><b>YAKUSOKU MTN</b></a>. I started following this blog sometime last year, and it became a favorite of mine instantly. It's a blog about life in Japan! With beautiful pictures! Of course I'd love it. Sadly though, the blog was set to private for a while shortly after I followed. Now that it's been set back to public, I told myself I'd backread the whole blog, so I've been doing so whenever I get the chance.<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-pencil"></i> <h8>Writing</h8><br />Getting my April schedule ready. <a href="http://wickedalucard.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Aian</a> and I have to go out four (!!!!) times next month, which is a lot more than usual. I've also been slacking off with blog posts recently, so I want to be able to at least put up my photodiaries from the past months. I have to study for the July JLPT as well. There's so much stuff I want to do, but I keep getting distracted by other things (that I also want to do). The struggle of being a "my pace" kind of person _(´ཀ`」 ∠) _<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/786/41118639411_f1b6ccbf0a_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-tv"></i> <h8>Watching</h8><br />My free 1-month trial subscription for Netflix ended last month, so I couldn't watch <a href="https://www.netflix.com/ph/title/80195839" target="_blank"><b>Hyori's Bed & Breakfast</b></a> for a while. Just as I was about to subscribe for real, I found out that the Netflix version of Hyori's B&B actually has some differences with the one aired on JTBC. I read on someone's blog that they had to insert their own background music for certain parts of the show, because of copyright issues or something. There's this one particular episode where the guests play IU's song, but in the Netflix version, you hear a different song playing in the same scene. I felt a bit iffy about that, so these days I've been downloading the episodes and watching them on my phone instead.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/789/41075457862_84810f605f_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />I'm currently at episode 11. I really love the dynamics between Hyori, her husband Sang-soon, and IU. There's something very interesting about seeing these high-profile celebrities doing mundane things like everyone else. Lee Hyori shaving her dogs' fur, Lee Sang-soon folding Hyori's underwear, IU clumsily chopping vegetables.. I find it all so very charming. Plus the slow lifestyle has always been appealing to me. I can't wait to watch the rest of the episodes and then start with season 2. With Yoona and Park Bogum this time. It feels a bit sad not being able to see IU in season 2 though!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/804/41075884792_604228fc8d_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />Aian and I have been watching a lot of anime, as usual. We finally finished watching all of <b>Mushishi: Zoku Shou</b>. I love stories that revolve around supernatural themes, especially when there's youkai or spirits involved. A lot of friends recommended I give Mushishi a try, and I was so glad I did. We watched the first season last year, and finally finished watching the second just a couple of weeks ago. SO GOOD. <br /><br />We also watched A TON of <b>Fate/</b> series. <b>Zero</b>, <b>Unlimited Blade Works</b>, <b>Apocrypha</b>, <b>Grand Order</b>, <b>Extra: Last Encore</b>. I'm pretty sick of it, to be honest. The thing is, the Fate universe itself is super interesting to me. I like the concept behind the servants, but the storytelling for a lot of their series is just sooo bad. The only one I liked so far was Zero, but that was written by Gen Urobuchi, so! Last Encore is still ~okay~, but I have my doubts because it's written by the original writer soooooo. I don't know yet. The anime is being produced by Shaft though, so that makes it better than the others already. In my book, that is, <strike>because I love anything that Shaft touches</strike>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/820/41101985532_62905d47dd_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />For current anime, we're only watching three – <b>DARLING in the FRANXX</b>, <b>Saiki Kusuo no Sai-nan</b>, and <b>3-gatsu no Lion</b>. I like all three series, but my favorite has to be 3-gatsu. <strike>(Again, because Shaft.)</strike> I've been a big fan of Umino Chica's storytelling since Honey and Clover, so I knew that I'd like 3-gatsu as well. Her stories are as relatable as ever; every episode hits me right in the heart. I need to remember to pick up copies of the manga if ever they get translated.<br /><br />By the way, if you'd like to see what anime I've been watching in 2018, you can check out my AniList <a href="https://anilist.co/user/chainyan/animelist" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/794/27271909558_9e1f882cd2_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-music"></i> <h8>Listening to</h8><br />The usual stuff. I tend to listen to the same songs, since I'm very picky when it comes to choosing songs that I can listen to while doing certain things. I only ever add stuff to my playlists when artists or groups I follow release new songs, but then I take them out when they don't go well with the rest of the songs on the list. These days though, I've been replaying <a href="https://youtu.be/CyzEtbG-sxY"><b>Seventeen's Clap</b></a> a lot. I don't follow Seventeen but I've had one of their songs—Very Nice—on my playlist for about a year or so now, so I thought I'd give their other songs a try. I really liked Clap, so I added it to my <a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/chainyan/playlist/6eZ4GfJGveRKmuVjYuJnkQ">K-Pop loop playlist</a>. <br /><br />As for music that isn't K-Pop, I've been listening to songs from <b>BanG Dream!</b> a lot this past couple of weeks. Our <strike>enabler</strike> friend Satsunyan introduced Aian and I to BanG Dream—Bandori for short—last month, and we got completely hooked. She knows we used to be into Love Live!, and so she's pulled us into yet another 2D girl hell _(:3 」∠)_ Which brings us to....<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/898/39336271490_74c3c66fa9_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-gamepad"></i> <h8>Playing</h8><br />Yep. I've only been playing <b>BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!</b> these past few weeks. I've even been neglecting my Sims because of this game! Bandori is a rhythm game, a lot like Love Live! SIF, but the songs are a lot better. I say this as someone who's never been a super fan of J-Pop idol songs in the first place. The only reason I got into µ's was because there was something about their songs that struck me. The first time I played SIF, Snow Halation was played in my head for days. I couldn't get that anymore with the new songs from Sunshine, so I eventually fell out of love with Love Live. And I thought that was the end of that, but then Satsunyan just had to show me Bandori........Well, I've been enjoying it LOL. One reason being the songs are right up my alley. Because Bandori is all about girl bands, there are five bands, all with different styles of music. They have cover songs of anime songs too, which is great. Another reason is because EVERYONE IS JUST SO CUTE? I don't only have one best girl in this series, I have FOUR. Crazy.<br /><br />The worldwide version of the game is coming out on the 4th, so if you're interested, you can check out the trailer <a href="https://youtu.be/ITZpLVBBjC0" target="_blank">here</a> and the official EN channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPityslSknKsWUq9iy8p9fw" target="_blank">here</a>. <strike>Come and join us in Bandori hell~~~~</strike><br /><br /><i class="fa fa-eye"></i> <h8>Needing / Wanting / Coveting</h8><br />Needing to get my tooth checked, because it's been hurting quite a lot the past few days. Wanting to eat bingsu (even though I can't eat cold food right now). Coveting all the pretty things from <a href="https://www.niconeco.com/" target="_blank"><b>niconeco zakkaya</b></a>.<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-heart"></i> <h8>Loving</h8><br />My not-so-new <b>iPad Air</b>. I got it from my younger brother, in exchange for my netbook. I haven't been using the netbook anyway, so it was all good. I'm not very particular about gadgets, but I really missed Analog Tokyo for editing photos. I couldn't find an Android app that had the same feel as Analog Tokyo, so I'm glad I could download it again on the iPad. I've also been using it well for playing games and watching stuff on Youtube. Super convenient.<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-thumbs-down"></i> <h8>Disliking</h8><br />The fact that it's that time of the year where my rhinitis is in full force again....<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-bookmark"></i> <h8>Bookmarking</h8><br />A bunch of journaling/food painting accounts on Instagram! Some new favorites are <a href="https://www.instagram.com/penri23/" target="_blank"><b>@penri23</b></a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dalgura/" target="_blank"><b>@dalgura</b></a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sherry8296/" target="_blank"><b>@sherry8296</b></a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/vanessa_watercolor/" target="_blank"><b>@vanessa_watercolor</b></a>. They're all so inspiring!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/897/40444973274_f9d7760208_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-calendar"></i> <h8>Looking forward to</h8><br />Watching <a href="http://www.drum-tao.com/main/english" target="_blank"><b>Drum Tao</b></a> on the 21st! Aian and I watched them perform in 2012, and that performance left such an impression with us that we've always said that if ever they come back to Manila, we'd watch them again. 6 years later, they're finally coming back! Only problem is, we weren't prepared. Because budget is a bit tight, I told Aian that I'd be okay even with watching them from the very back. And so we settled for the cheapest seats. Which is more than enough, as long as we can watch them again! This year we're watching it with <a href="http://cldrbt.tumblr.com/"="_blank">Allysa</a>. I'm super excited!<br /><br /><b>What have <i>you</i> been up to lately? :)</b></div><div class="foot"><a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="http://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="http://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-5789686214673030332018-03-01T23:37:00.010+08:002018-06-28T21:16:43.443+08:00current favorites #2<div class="para"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CWeIkuUj23E/Wo2IG1QCoyI/AAAAAAAADko/NPg5E-N6xK44EvbQA-mQMWggtQtjQE9KQCLcBGAs/s1600/current-favorites-january-february-2018.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br />Just a quick rundown of my favorite things from January and February—skincare, makeup, movies, music, etc! ✨<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>#1 : ✨my new Midori TN✨</hh></div>I shared this on my Instagram Stories and on my Twitter, but I've never gotten around to actually talking about it until now. On the first week of January, I got myself a <b>Midori Traveler's Notebook</b>. I got the passport sized one, which is so smol and cute! The truth is, I wasn't planning on getting a planner for 2018 at all. I have a tendency to buy planners and just use the first couple of months, then forget about them completely. That's why I hadn't planned on buying one, let alone a Midori TN! But when <a href="http://thefoureyedwonder.com/" target=_blank>Allie</a> showed me hers, I was sold. I went back to Scribe that same day and bought one 🙈<br /><br />My current setup has three notebooks: the <b>Free Monthly Diary</b>, the <b>Free Weekly Diary</b>, and the <b>Grid Notebook</b>. I use them for planning, daily journaling, and taking notes, respectively. Out of the three, I use the Weekly Diary the most. I didn't think I'd get into journaling (because I'm lazy af), but it's become quite enjoyable for me, surprisingly! I even have a whole bunch of stickers and washi tapes now! I'd love to talk about my TN in more detail, but I'll save that for a separate post~~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4700/39642791345_d6b39e2bfe_o.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>#2 : Beauty</hh></div>I've become really lazy with my skincare recently, so I've pared down my routine to just three to four steps. Cleanse, tone, moisturize. Apply sunscreen during the daytime. That's it! I normally wouldn't trust my problematic skin to be okay with such a barebones routine, but surprisingly my skin has been doing well with it! I'm guessing it's all because of the main star of the routine, the <b>Kikumasamune Sake Brewing Skin Care Lotion High Moist</b>! (WHEW what a name!) I've heard a lot of good things about it on r/AB, so I made sure to pick up a bottle at Sasa while we were in KL. My first impression was that THE BOTTLE IS HUGE. I had to decant some of it into a different container because it wouldn't fit in my skincare drawer. You get such a huge 500ml bottle for ~P500 (I forgot the exact price, but it's around that range when converted from MYR), and a little goes a long way, so it's a lot more <i>sulit</i> than, say, the Hada Labo toners. Second, this stuff makes my face feel SO HYDRATED. The first week I used it, I could already see visible results. I used to use the Hada Labo Shirojyun, which was brightening but not as hydrating compared to the Gokujyun. The Kikumasamune has rice ferment, arbutin, and ceramides, so I get the brightening factor that I need, plus the hydration that I felt was lacking in the Shirojyun. Needless to say, I've found my new HG hydrating toner 😍❤<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4670/26666666338_4a4e58497c_o.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br /><br />I picked up a new lip tint while I was in KL as well. It's the <b>Peripera Airy Ink Velvet #2 Pretty Orange Pink</b>! I made sure to get this because this particular color is ALWAYS sold out in Manila. This color became #1 on my to-buy list ever since I heard that EXID's Hani uses it. I've been using it almost exclusively ever since 🙈 Another makeup fave is something from my favorite Japanese brand, Canmake! <a href="https://www.canmakeph.com/" target=_blank>Canmake Philippines</a> sent me a few of their products recently, and while I love all the stuff they send me (#CanmakeGirlForLife), the one product that's caught my heart is the <b>Glow Fleur Cheeks</b>. The color I got is <b>02 Apricot Fleur</b>. I love using this and the Peripera Airy Ink Velvet I mentioned earlier for a fresh peachy look 🍑✨<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4703/40500298622_f61e29db22_o.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>#3 : Anime & Manga</hh></div>Aian and I have watched a ton of anime from the start of the year, but my favorite series from everything we've watched so far has to be <b>Arakawa Under the Bridge</b>! It's SUPER FUNNY and I just love how unique all the characters are. We finished both the first and the second season in a little over a week (?) or two (??) I think. The ending was a bit WTF though (SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS), so I plan on reading the manga in the future to hopefully make sense of it all. It's a really good series either way, so I highly recommend it! I also enjoyed watching <b>Blend S</b> and <b>Hyouka</b>. We've also started watching the second season of <b>3-Gatsu no Lion</b>, but the broadcast's been suspended because of the Winter Olympics, so we've been watching other series in the meantime (like Fate......everything). If you'd like to see what anime I've been watching in 2018, you can check out my AniList <a href="https://anilist.co/user/chainyan/animelist" target=_blank>here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4660/38743877840_b9c89082d2_o.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br /><br />As for manga, I haven't been reading any these days. I stopped reading One Piece and Haikyuu!! because I don't like having to wait too long for next chapters. I'm going to wait for a couple more months before I pick them up again. For now, I've only been re-reading old faves. Mostly stuff by <b>Kinoshita Keiko</b> <strike>because I love suffering</strike>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4757/26682804928_e1b66cf57b_o.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>#4 : Movies</hh></div>Aian and I managed to catch <b>The Greatest Showman</b> while it was still in theaters. IT WAS SO GOOD. I'm quite partial to musical films, so I already knew from the start that I was going to like the movie. I wasn't expecting that I'd actually tear up while watching it, though! It's been a while since I cried during a movie, but it's really hard not to feel things while watching The Greatest Showman. My favorite songs from the film are <b>Come Alive</b> and <b>This Is Me</b> (which also happen to be the parts of the movie where I cried, lol). I highly recommend that everyone watch it! I've been telling all my friends to watch it when they can, because it's JUST SO GOOD.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4614/25683190077_bf3082f279_o.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br /><br />We finally got to watch <b>Kimi no Na wa.</b> as well! To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the movie because I'm not so much a fan of Makoto Shinkai's movies. Shinkai's works are all very beautiful visually, but the storytelling is slow as hell. It's not bad, just not my cup of tea. I liked Kimi no Na wa. though, surprisingly! Shinkai's storytelling seems to have changed a lot since his 5 Centimeters per Second days. I might give The Garden of Words a try in the future.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4610/39865950184_0aa694bc0e_o.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>#5 : Netflix</hh></div>I signed up for Netflix sometime in January, just to see what the fuss was about. I was a bit let down by the anime selection though, since I'd already seen most of what was being offered. There were a lot of documentaries though, which I found interesting. Sadly, I wasn't able to use the trial sub much because of our shitty internet 💩 The only time I was able to use it was when I found in out late February that Netflix added <a href="https://www.netflix.com/ph/title/80195839" target=_blank><b>Hyori's Bed and Breakfast</b></a> to their list of shows being offered. And thanks to PLDT Fibr finally setting up our new internet connection, I managed to watch almost all the episodes during the last week of my free trial, lol. Hyori's B&B is so good. If you're familiar with Korean reality shows such as 3 Meals a Day or Youn's Kitchen, this has a similar concept. I'm very attracted to the concept of slow living, so I tend to like shows like this. The whole show is very relaxing to watch. Makes me want to visit Jeju one day 🌳🌿🍊🍃<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4612/39648644995_a33a3183a0_o.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>#6 : Music</hh></div>I've been listening to <a href="https://youtu.be/900X9fDFLc4" target=_blank><b>Roller Coaster by Chungha</b></a> non-stop ever since her <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/04TsF8IFb70DdBYDT8egvw" target=_blank>new EP</a> dropped. This comeback has been absolute 🔥FIRE🔥 so I've been watching all the performances. Love the song, the dance, the makeup and styling, Chungha herself, EVERYTHING. I've actually been meaning to get into Wanna One, but I've been super focused on Chungha that I can't even look at other groups. (Sorry, baby boys.) On days I need something more chill, I listen to Younha's <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/32n91KG3YeLMLJ9e64EfXy" target=_blank>RescuE</a> album. <a href="https://youtu.be/7bPffIZot10" target=_blank><b>Parade</b></a> is my favorite, because the bassline sounds so nice. (Also because I love anything GroovyRoom touches.)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4723/39843391474_792cc67002_o.jpg" alt="current favorites | chainyan.co"><br /><br />I'm super late to the party, but I recently got into <b>Gugudan</b>! Why didn't I listen to them earlier? Their songs are all SO GOOD. I like <b>OGUOGU</b> a lot as well, but that's to be expected because I love anything Orange Caramel–like. I have <a href="https://youtu.be/yQxtwvLUByM" target=_blank><b>A Girl Like Me</b></a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/vLVSf_yI_r8" target=_blank><b>Chococo</b></a>, <a href="https://youtu.be/y3KSD5sI0OM"><b>The Boots</b></a>, and <a href="https://youtu.be/Wut7K5vDjA0" target=_blank><b>Ice Chu</b></a> all in my shower playlist, heh. <br /><br />Other than that, I've been mostly listening to the same songs. All of these are on my KPOP loop playlist <a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/chainyan/playlist/6eZ4GfJGveRKmuVjYuJnkQ" target=_blank>here</a>.</div><br /><div class="video_outer_wrap"><div class="video_wrap"><iframe width="730" height="411" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pLPvJMdn-Mc" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div><div class="para"><div class="llhead"><hh>#7 : Links</hh></div>Because of my newfound love for journaling, I've started following a bunch of journaling-related channels and Instagrams. Some of my favorite YT channels are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL46mbi7rR3W_nqP2nBmwfw" target=_blank><b>thechronicdiarist</b></a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTl3IjMtEmx9Y_Daus54uqA" target=_blank><b>Momolovespaper</b></a>, and of course, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/rainbowholicTV" target=_blank><b>RainbowholicTV</b></a>! As for Instagram, I follow way too many, but the ones I stalk the most are <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lihaopaper/" target=_blank><b>@lihaopaper</b></a>, <a href="https://instagram.com/sanniehow_" target=_blank><b>@sanniehow_</b></a>, and <a href="https://instagram.com/taiyakimess" target=_blank><b>@taiyakimess</b></a>.<br /><br />Not journaling related, but I've also love this IG – <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mr_yabatan/" target=_blank><b>Mr. Yabatan</b></a>! He's a comedian (?) who does <i>monomane</i> or impressions of foreigners speaking Japanese. His videos are so funny! If you're only finding about Mr. Yabatan now, I recommend looking for his video with the Nara deers and starting from there. <i>Gabu gabu</i>~~~~<br /><br /><b>What are some of your favorites? :)</b></div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-28053524750950761862018-01-30T07:22:00.012+08:002018-07-29T06:02:35.574+08:00product empties #4<div class="para"><div align=justify><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0qNNkS8-C04/Wm0nFg_nJLI/AAAAAAAADi8/mDwIRpJJ10gPW2yutSfD5C5XqqmjjvAQwCLcBGAs/s1600/product-empties-2nd-half-2017.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br />Hey everyone, hope you're all having a good year so far! :) Recently I've been spending most of my free time KonMari-ing, so January went by super quickly for me. In the middle of tidying everything, I realized that I still had my pile of product empties sitting in a corner of our closet. I know I'm still not done with the clothes category, and that I should stick to the proper order of things. But I thought I should do the empties post as soon as possible, so I can go ahead and chuck everything out. And so here it is – my product empties for the latter half of 2017!✨<a name='more'></a><br /><br />Just a quick note – those with a 💜 after the name are products that I loved! :)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4752/39936195421_497d9aefc8_o.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>MAKEUP</h4>Thought I'd start with makeup since I only have two (!!) empties for the latter half of 2017. In my previous empties posts I used to include expired items, but this time I decided to only show products that I actually used up. (Though I do have a lot of expired products that need to be thrown out. I'm saving those for a separate post.)<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~agFYl" target="_blank">CLIO Kill Cover Conceal Cushion</a></h7>*<br />A decent cushion with great buildable coverage, but the formula tends to slide/rub off if you put on too much. Also, their darkest shade, 04 Ginger, is too light for me. I really liked the coverage though, so I might try CLIO's concealers next time.<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~agFXu" target="_blank">Innisfree No Sebum Mineral Powder</a></h7><br />Everyone's favorite powder. I wanted to love this as much as everyone else did, but sadly it's not a good match for me. Oil control is great, keeps my face matte for about 5 hours or so on a humid day. A+ performance, just as reviews say. The only issue I have with it is that it makes my face look really dry upon application. It looks okay after a few hours once the natural oils on my face blend with my makeup. But I can't exactly wait ~a few hours~ every time, so it's just not for me.<br /><br /><h4>SKINCARE</h4>I used up a ton of skincare this time as well! Mostly old favorites, plus a handful of stuff I tried for the first time.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4698/39936194141_60b1d35674_o.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~9VjKv" target="_blank">Bifesta Eye Makeup Remover</a></h7> 💜<br />My favorite point makeup remover, because it's still the only one that can remove all my eye and lip makeup properly. Mascara, eyeliner, lip tint, everything. The only other makeup remover I've tried that can do that is the Lancôme Bi-Facil, which is $30 (!!!) for almost the same amount of product as the Bifesta. The one problem I have with this is that I can only get my hands on them during our yearly KL trips. Can Mandom PLEASE bring back Bifesta in the Philippines?<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~9VjKx" target="_blank">Banila Co Clean It Zero Classic (Super Size)</a></h7> 💜<br />Still my HG oil-based cleanser! 10/10 will always repurchase, but I'd like to try the Purity version next time.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4660/39940307441_20c3b67d13_o.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~9VjK6" target="_blank">COSRX Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser</a></h7> 💜<br />It's just as everyone says – this is probably the best low pH cleanser around. I'd like to repurchase, but I'm planning on switching to a cheaper cleanser like Celeteque's or Human Nature's instead. The reason for this isn't because I was unhappy with the COSRX. In fact, I like it a lot! It's just that I can do without it. All the other steps in my routine are already pretty good, so I'm okay with using a less-than-stellar cleanser.<br /><br /><h7><a href="/2017/03/bebeautifiedbygrace-with-grace-cosmetics.html" target="_blank">Grace Cosmetics Aloe Foaming Cleanser</a></h7>*<br />A nice gentle cleanser, but way out of my price range. I had to transfer the contents into one of my empty Hada Labo containers, because I broke the cap of the tube it was originally in, lol. I got this during the launch of Grace Cosmetics in the Philippines. You can find my post about the event plus a slightly more detailed review of this product <a href="/2017/03/bebeautifiedbygrace-with-grace-cosmetics.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4662/39936193011_f2424ef7d3_o.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~9VjKI" target="_blank">Rohto Melano CC Intensive Anti-Spot Essence</a></h7> 💜<br />My HG Vitamin C serum! It's helped a lot in fading dark spots. This was my second tube. I'd like to repurchase, but I've been thinking of giving the TIAM MY Signature C-Source (formerly the OST C20 Vitamin C Serum) another try, because I have a ton of dark spots on my arms and legs from mosquito bites that I want to fade as well ; v ;<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~9VjKg" target="_blank">Tony Moly 2X First Essence</a></h7><br />My very first first essence! I actually liked this product quite a bit. It's supposed to be a boosting essence that made the next steps in your routine 2x more effective, hence the name. And it did just that for me. My routine is packed with hyaluronic acid products, and I could feel that my skin was softer and bouncier on days that I used this product compared to days that I didn't. That said, the reason why I couldn't love this product is because it has such a strong fragrance. I think this is typical for Tony Moly products? Which is too bad, because it would've been perfect otherwise.<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~9VjKs" target="_blank">Benton Snail Bee High Content Essence</a></h7> 💜<br />Another HG! For someone who's dealing compulsive picking, this product is a godsend. Will always, always repurchase.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4701/39936191801_565eb8636e_o.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~agFWf" target="_blank">Goodal Moisture Barrier Fresh Liquid</a></h7>* 💜<br />I got this during the <a href="/2017/05/club-clio-now-in-manila.html" target=_blank>Club Clio launch in Manila</a> last May. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this product. The only reason I picked it up was because I was running low on my Hada Labo Lotion at the time. I'm so glad I did because this product was SO GOOD. I didn't check the ingredients list beforehand (lol....don't be like me), so I was surprised to find out that it had both niacinamide and ceramide, which makes my dehydrated skin very happy. Also, it's supposed to be a toner, serum, and emulsion in one, so on nights that I felt lazy I just slapped two layers of this on and then went to bed. But because this is the fresh version, it didn't feel heavy even during hot and humid days, which made it great as a daytime toner. I like it enough to want to repurchase, but not right now as it's out of my budget. In the future, maybe!<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~9VjJY" target="_blank">Hada Labo Shirojyun Arbutin Milk</a></h7> 💜<br />My HG moisturizer, will always repurchase, etc etc.<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~agFVH" target="_blank">Mizon Snail Recovery Gel Cream</a></h7><br />What was I even expecting with this? I picked this up because I saw a lot of people recommend this for oily-dehydrated skin. It was...so-so. I compared it with the Celeteque Hydration Facial Moisturizer, which is the 1/3 of the price of the Mizon Gel Cream, and I couldn't tell the difference at all!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4712/39936189991_6de92eca3c_o.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>SHEET MASKS</h4>Sheet masks! I love these things, but I stopped using them at some point because I got too lazy. I only used four masks in total—these three in the photo, plus the Papa Recipe Bombee Honey Mask I got from <a href="http://dearmykang.wordpress.com" target="_blank">Kang</a> (which was A-MA-ZING).<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~a2oRr" target="_blank">Goodal Water Full Masks</a></h7> 💜<br />One of my favorite masks. I bought them at the Club Clio event and liked them a lot. A great hydrating mask for its price. These were my last ones; will repurchase when I can.<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~agXkW" target="_blank">Innisfree My Real Squeeze Mask Aloe</a></h7> 💜<br />Picked up a bunch of these while I was at the Innisfree in KL. Not gonna lie, there's nothing amazing about these masks, but I love them anyway! Innisfree masks are my guilty pleasure, because they're cheap but give good results. I used this Aloe one during our trip. My skin tends to get very dry in KL, and this mask gave me the hydration boost that I needed.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4717/28156266439_f4b934be35_o.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>SAMPLES & DECANTS</h4>I love samples! They're great for trying out new products you're interested in, but not quite ready to commit to yet. They're also ideal for traveling!<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~9VjK3" target="_blank">Hada Labo Shirojyun Arbutin Lotion</a></h7> 💜<br />A sample sized bottle of my favorite hydrating toner, c/o my love Kang &hearts;<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~ah3Mq" target="_blank">SCINIC Aqua All-in-One Ampoule</a></h7> 💜<br />I found out last year that there are actually local shops that sell decants of skincare products, so I went and tried some products I was curious about. I bought this one from <a href="https://shopee.ph/chokchokph" target="_blank">Chok Chok Shop</a>. I've been wanting to try the SCINIC AIOs for a long time now, but I didn't want to buy the full jar just yet. Plus, with all the variants, I wasn't sure which one would work well for me. I tried the Aqua, because it was highly recommended for oily-dehydrated skin. I loved it. I'm looking to try the Honey and Snail variants next time, but I also plan to buy the full-sized jar for the Aqua in the future.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4619/39936188481_3b8933ec55_o.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~ah3Mx" target="_blank">COSRX Ultimate Moisturizing Honey Overnight Mask</a></h7> 💜<br />A freebie from one of my purchases last year. I was so happy to get this because it's been in my want-to-try list for so long! I was not disappointed. I've tried a handful of sleeping packs before, but nothing as light as this. I used this for about 3 nights (I tried to use as little as possible LOL), and in the mornings I always woke up with soft, hydrated skin. The power of propolis is amazing. I wanted to purchase the full-sized version the moment I ran out, but I wanted to get the tube version and not the jar version, which wasn't available locally at the time. I plan to buy it sometime this year.<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~ah3My" target="_blank">COSRX Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Spa Mask</a></h7> 💜<br />Got this at the same time as the Honey variant, so I was able to try it right after I used that one up. Unlike the Honey, which was a gel, this one is more of a slippy cream texture. It's only very slightly heavier than the Honey, and takes a little bit longer to dry, but I love it all the same. After using it, my face was super soft and hydrated in the morning. RICE IS LIFE. I plan to purchase the full-sized tube version of this as well. I'll buy it together with the Honey!<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~agXk7" target="_blank">Benton Fermentation Essence</a></h7>*<br />This and a bunch of other samples of Benton products came together with the press sample package I got from Benton last year. You all know how much I love their Snail Bee Essence, so I've been curious about Benton's other products for a long time. This was the first one I tried. I.... can't remember how it was. I read a bunch of good reviews for it on reddit though, it's supposedly a better first essence than the COSRX. I'm guessing it's one of those products that you need to use for at least a month or so before seeing results, so I might give it a second try.<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~agXjw" target="_blank">Benton Fermentation Eye Cream</a></h7>*<br />Also part of the Benton sample set. I tried this along with the essence, and it was okay. I saw on an episode of Get It Beauty that you're supposed to use an eye cream for at least 6 months before you see visible results though, so I can't exactly say whether this product is good or not.<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~agXjw" target="_blank">Benton Cacao Moist And Mild Cream</a></h7>* 💜<br />Still part of the Benton sample set. I used this in the evenings only, because I read somewhere that it might be a bit too greasy for daytime use. It was so good! The cream is lightweight, yet very moisturizing. It's light enough that you can use it during hot and humid days. The issue of the grease was there, but it felt more like there was a layer of film (?) on my face even after the product dried down. It wasn't a big deal for me though. Maybe because I've dealt with worse? The layer definitely is there though, so I recommend only using it for night. My favorite thing about this cream was the scent. Smells like chocolates!<br /><br /><h7><a href="http://rstyle.me/~agXku" target="_blank">Tony Moly The Black Tea London Classic Eye Cream</a></h7><br />Something I got from another purchase. Again, I only used it for a few days, so it's not possible to see results immediately. It was okay when I used it. The scent was okay too, for a Tony Moly product. <br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4603/39038095285_2b06e443a7_o.jpg" alt="product empties | chainyan.co"><br />And that wraps up my product empties for the 2nd half of 2017! I can finally throw all these bottles away, lol! Have you tried any of these items? Any makeup or skincare favorites from 2017? Let me know! :)</div></div><br /><div class="disc">DISCLAIMER: Items with an (*) were sent in for review. Opinions remain my own. Also, this post contains affiliate links. Clicking those links before you shop means that Chainyan.co receives a small commission, which helps to support the blog. Please see my full <a href="/p/disc.html" target="_blank">disclaimer</a> for more information.</div><div class="foot"><a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="http://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="http://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-81335733401907762532018-01-18T14:45:00.010+08:002018-06-28T21:16:46.262+08:002018 goals<div class=para><div align=justify><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DWdUDd1-Hck/WluMXsAkQQI/AAAAAAAADhg/OTFTEr4uJgEMxhES4ragojYNbBveo9UVACLcBGAs/s1600/2018-goals-1.jpg" alt="2018 goals | chainyan.co"><br />Time once again to share my new goals for the new year! Just like <a href="/2017/01/2017-goals.html" target=_blank>last year's</a>, most of these are short-term goals that I feel would benefit me in the long run. Compared to previous years, I now have a more concrete idea of what kind of person I want to become, and what kind of life I want to live. Last year's goals were my first few stepping stones to becoming <b>my ideal version of myself</b>. I experienced the most personal growth in 2017 compared to other years, so in 2018 I want to continue with the same end goal in mind. And so without further ado, let's jump right into it! :) <br /><a name='more'></a><h4>2018 Goals</h4>1. <b>Try more things that lay outside of my comfort zone</b> – It's only natural to be bad at something you've never even tried before, right? I always say this to myself, but my social anxiety thinks otherwise. My social anxiety is a bitch that won't even let me try a new thing without making my brain think that other people will judge me for being bad at it. It's frustrating, especially when I see my friends enjoying this new thing. I want to try new things, too! This year I'm going to keep pushing myself to try new things at least once or twice. I'm going to list everything as well, so at the end of the year I can look back at all the new things I tried in 2018. As of this writing, I've already done two: 1) ask Aian to play an arcade game together; and 2) try archery!<br /><br />2. <b>Commit to the KonMari Method</b> – One of the lines in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up goes, <hl>"The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past."</hl> And it really struck me. How much junk have I accumulated under the pretense of keeping them as memories? I tested this by opening one of my "memory boxes" one day. I know sentimental items are supposed to be the very last category when following the KonMari Method, but I wanted to test myself. I looked at the contents of my memory box... and it was 90% junk. The only items of importance there were a few rolls of undeveloped film from 2012 and a handwritten letter from Aian. That was it. Everything else went straight to the trash. And it felt great. I've been trying to do this whole decluttering thing for a couple of years now, but I always stop midway. I realized while reading Spark Joy that the only way I can really rid my life of clutter is to commit myself 100% to tidying. This year, I plan on doing just that. Hopefully by the end of the year, I'll be able to look at my space and only see things that spark joy.<br /><br />3. <b>Work on becoming stronger</b> 💪 – My initial reason for getting into working out was to lose weight, but I realize now that the focus should be on losing fat and not losing weight. This year I'm going to try and be more active. Just a little bit more than last year should be fine. I'm going to continue doing the workouts on Nike Training Club, and then after a few months, maybe try a new physical activity like Crossfit or Boxing.<br /><br />4. <b>Set a more rigid schedule</b> – Since I mostly only do content creation for the blog, I don't really have a rigid schedule. Or I should say, it's hard to have one. I'm the type of person that works in random bursts of energy. Also, I can only come create content that I can be satisfied with when I'm feeling good. (Is it an INFP thing?) While this 'work pattern' works well enough for me, I don't like that I waste a lot of time in between. I'd like to have a set schedule that can accommodate my strange work pattern, my even stranger sleeping pattern, plus any new activity that I'll be trying this year.<br /><br />5. <b>Get back to doing photoshoots</b> – Just because I miss doing these! The reason why I stopped doing photoshoots is pretty simple – I just got tired of it. Whenever I did photoshoots with my friends, I would do almost everything—set design, makeup, styling, photography, post-processing. Everything besides modeling, basically. It was fun, but it was a lot of work, so I stopped. I continued to take photos of people during ACG events after that, but my dSLR battery would die after just a few minutes of shooting. Eventually it became a hassle to keep charging my battery every few minutes, so I stopped bringing my dSLR with me. I finally bought a new battery and a new charger earlier this month, so hopefully I can get back to doing casual shoots with friends!<br /><br /><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M5tklEKIFTw/WluMW5kMEdI/AAAAAAAADhc/S5o40B8_SkAfiTQfJCLVn9AcXRjZGg2UQCLcBGAs/s1600/2018-goals-2.jpg" alt="2018 goals | chainyan.co"><br /><br />6. <b>Learn how to play bass guitar</b> – Something I've been wanting to do for ages! I realize though, that I can only do this if I manage to actually get my hands on a bass guitar this year. We'll see!<br /><br />7. <b>Take the JLPT N4 exam</b> – I took the N5 exam last year and it felt amazing. The feeling of being able to breeze through the listening exam was what made me think, "Ah, maybe I <i>can</i> learn this after all!" Which is why I've decided to focus on my Japanese language studies this year. For N5 I only did roughly about three months of semi-serious studying and A LOT of help from Duolingo. That's...not something I recommend anyone doing lol. That might have gotten me through the N5 exam, but I'm sure that won't fly for N4. I've decided to slowly but surely work towards N4. For this, I bought the Genki I and II textbooks and workbooks while we were in KL. I'm starting from the beginning to fill in any gaps left by my haphazard studying methods from last year. The goal is to take the N4 in July, but I can always take it in December if I feel like I need more time to study. Either way, I'm taking it this year! <br /><br />8. <b>Write more anime and manga related blog content</b> – Just because. 2018 will be the year I come out of the weeb closet!<br /><br />9. <b>Be kinder to myself and everyone else</b> – "Have courage and be kind." I haven't seen the 2015 Cinderella movie, but when it came out I saw a lot of people posting this quote. I liked it a lot, so I've kept it in mind ever since. Having courage is something that comes easily for me, thanks to years of hardening myself emotionally. But being kind—especially to myself—isn't as easy. I'm going to try my best to change that. I want to become a kinder person, even if it's just by 10%.<br /><br />10. <b>Visit Japan and/or Taiwan</b> – This is probably the goal I'm least likely to accomplish, only because whether or not I'm able to travel this year is entirely dependent on Aian's workload. (I can't go on solo trips abroad because Aian will get envious LOL.) Still, I'm adding it to my list of goals anyway. Believe in the Law of Attraction!! 🙏<br /><br />That's it for now, I guess? I might add more if I feel like it, but I'll start with these. Wish me luck this year as well!<br /><br /><b>What are some of your goals for the new year?</b><br /></div></div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-50174987855536062482018-01-09T01:36:00.010+08:002018-06-28T21:16:49.696+08:002017 goal recap<div class="para"><div align=justify><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7bHpT66V6Yg/WlOtwxUGfHI/AAAAAAAADgY/Cn6pwdzcGFoMhRe6TxRVS6Ha3pKk32wrACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_4824.jpg" alt="2017 goal recap | chainyan.co"><br />A week late, but <b>Happy New Year</b>! :) I hope your 2018's off to a great start. I spent the first week of the new year by meeting friends that I haven't met in a long time. I thought I wouldn't have enough energy for it, considering I spent the last few days of 2017 rushing to different family celebrations, but I managed somehow! I spent most of the following weekend hibernating, lol. So now that I'm well-rested and re-energized, I'm ready to <i>really really</i> <strike>(ehem, 2017 song of the year)</strike> start the new year! (My pace is the best pace, after all!) As always, I'll be sharing with you my new goals for the year. But for today, I'd like to look back over 2017's goals and talk a little bit about how I did :)<a name='more'></a><br /><h4>2017 Goals</h4>1. <b>Take more photos</b> – Probably the easiest of all my goals for the year. Taking photos is pretty much second nature to me, and with all the new photo apps coming out these days I've been taking more photos than ever. For next year though, I'd like to be able to use my dSLR more. I haven't been using much ever since the batteries started acting off, so I plan on getting new batteries and a battery grip for my camera so I can start taking photos with it again.<br /><br />2. <b>Project 52 or 365</b> – I started a Project 365, but I never got to finish it. It's about 1/2 done, I guess. I kept doing it up until July, and then I just got tired of it. 90% of my time is spent at home, so the most interesting thing I could ever take photos of is the cats. And as expected, there were times when my 365 posts only ever had photos of our cats. It began to feel quite monotonous, so I decided to stop doing it and return to doing my monthly photodiaries instead. (Which are still mostly just photos of our cats, lol.)<br /><br />3. <b>Open a bank account and start saving up</b> – I already have a bank account, but the plan was to open a new one, at a more accessible bank. I couldn't do this in 2017, so maybe next year! Not a priority, though it would make transactions for my online sales much easier.<br /><br />4. <b>Do one big closet purge</b> – I did a few not-so-big closet purges, which is at least something! <strike>My closet is still a mess though, sigh.</strike><br /><br />4.5 <b>Declutter makeup and skincare stash</b> – Not 100% done, but I did a lot of decluttering and managed to downsize my makeup and skincare stash A LOT. After experimenting with different products for about 2 years, I now have a clear idea of what I like and don't like. My stash isn't overflowing with products anymore. Still not as ~curated~ as I'd like it to be, but it's close. Getting ready in the morning and getting ready for bed are also much easier now since I don't have to think too much about what products to use.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4737/38658587725_ac24ea72f1_o.jpg" alt="2017 goal recap | chainyan.co"><br /><br />5. <b>Take better care of my body</b> – In an effort to finally lose weight, I started watching what I eat. At first I went with the calorie counting method, but it eventually became too bothersome for me. So instead, I tried becoming more conscious of what I put into my body. I also started working out with <b>Nike Run Club</b> and <b>Nike Training Club</b>. I still haven't lost any weight, but that's okay, because I did get a lot stronger! I can now walk long distances without getting tired easily. (I realized this during our last KL trip, where Aian and I spent almost 4 days walking around.) Now that I've seen the results of exercising regularly, I only plan to keep getting stronger this 2018!<br /><br />5.5 <b>Do all the medical things that I've been putting off for so long</b> – I wanted to, but my social anxiety made it impossible to even schedule any appointments... sigh. I still plan to do this, but I'm going to take it slow and start by booking an appointment with a dentist.<br /><br /><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MhQqBOwkZEM/WQXoxxgcRQI/AAAAAAAAC6w/wZud-S6Uh7QrB-_I1mN_5Drm3a73dCAaQCLcB/s1600/34172646505_4d2b26ba75_o.jpg" alt="2017 goal recap | chainyan.co"><br /><br />6. <b>Start a monthly skincare journal</b> – Started one. Wrote a staggering total of <i>two</i> entries. I realized that writing monthly skincare updates is a bit too much. I don't change up my skincare that often, and if I do, one month just isn't enough time for it to show a visible effect on my skin. I do plan to continue writing skincare journals on the blog, though not as often. Maybe every 6 months, or whenever I make a drastic skincare routine change.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4600/38831413794_f5fc9a97f5_o.jpg" alt="2017 goal recap | chainyan.co"><br /><br />7. <b>Take the JLPT in December</b> – I put this goal off for YEARS before finally biting the bullet. Being able to do the listening exam with ease was 10/10 one of my personal proudest moments of 2017. The grammar section was much harder than I expected though, because I focused too much on studying kanji. But I did pretty okay overall, so I'm hoping for a good result! <i>*prayer hands emoji*</i><br /><br />8. <b>Watch more classic anime films</b> – Did I watch any? I'm not sure if I did! Aian and I watched a ton of anime in 2017 as well, but I can't remember if we watched any classics. I still haven't seen most of Satoshi Kon's movies though, so I'm considering this one as unaccomplished.<br /><br />9. <b>Buy a cat tree for the kids</b> – I realized this wouldn't work as well as I imagine it to be since our apartment is so small. So I'm putting this off until when we move to a bigger place or something.<br /><br />9.5 <b>Do something for cats in general</b> – This year we've rehomed a total of four kittens! We're also currently fostering two kittens, and we're looking to rehome them in the future as well. And as my last good deed for the year, I donated 60 meals of dry cat food to one of my favorite local animal welfare organizations, CARA Philippines.<br /><br />10. <b>Visit at least one new travel destination, be it local or abroad</b> – No time to do this, sadly! Last year Aian was busier than ever, and I can't do a solo trip because Aian might get envious lol.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4601/39525292482_336bdb0280_o.jpg" alt="2017 goal recap | chainyan.co"><br /><br />11. <b>Take more outfit photos</b> – I'm glad that I put this goal at the very end of my list because I have A Lot To Say about this. First of all I didn't take any outfit photos in 2017. Except for one, which is the photo above, taken mid-December. <br /><br />The above photo is special to me for reasons. I have a long-ass explanation why, but not all of you might want to read it, so feel free to skip this part! ↓ ↓ ↓<br /><br />----<br /><br />For a long time now, I've been struggling with issues regarding my physical appearance and weight. The reason stems from the fact that I chose to be a public figure (bc ✨blogger✨, u kno). Because of this, I'm always worrying about how I look and how other people might perceive me. At the height of my blog's ~*~popularity~*~ in 2012 (#morigirldays), I used to get a lot of messages about people spotting me outside. At the mall with family, hanging out with friends at a cafe, etc. This made me hyper-aware of the fact that any of my followers might be able to see me at any given time, so I had to be presentable 100% of the time I'm outside. Fast forward to 2017. My blog following has since dwindled down since then. The number I have now is small compared to the numerous successful local bloggers out there, but it's a number that I'm happy with. But still, that hyper-awareness of people stuck with me. It's one of the main factors for my social anxiety. It actually wasn't so bad before, but it got much worse in 2017.<br /><br />If you follow any of my SNS, then you've probably noticed that during the past year, I've only been posting selfies. Not a single outfit photo. Just selfies. All of this, just because this year, my weight peaked at 70kg. 70kg is the heaviest I've ever been – 20kg from my "ideal" weight of 50kg. (The reason why I say "ideal" is because that was the weight that I'm the most comfortable). So now, having a body that was SO DIFFERENT from what I was used to.. it was hard. It was hard for me to accept. So I stopped posting outfit photos completely. I'd ask Aian to take some, but I'd delete them right away. It was hard just looking at them. Wanting to lose weight, in August I started watching what I ate and working out. This only made things worse, since I became frustrated when I couldn't see results quickly enough. To top it all off, my skin became 10x worse because all the anxiety from this issue led me to pick at my skin. My self-esteem reached an all-time low, and I would cry thinking about how ugly I've become. I would cry thinking about how weak I was for crying over my physical appearance. By November, I was a mess. At one point, I stopped showering altogether. It was crazy. I don't know what it was that changed, but by the last few days of November, I'd already snapped out of it. I went back to doing my usual routines, but did simplified versions of everything. No counting calories, but no eating too much sugar. I'd do my skincare routine, but only a three-step version instead of the usual six or seven. I worked out, but only when I felt like I was up to it. I wasn't 100% back to my usual self, but I was stable. Somehow I was able to keep it together. <br /><br />And then in December, I decided to do a drastic change. I cut my hair. I was growing my hair out so I could donate it to cancer patients in need of wigs, so I'd already planned on cutting it anyway. When I finally did my hair cut—12 whole inches of it—I felt so much lighter. It wasn't just that the weight of all that hair was finally off. I felt like I was changed, somehow. The change of my mental state was almost instantaneous, it was amazing. That's what haircuts do, I guess? After that, I started becoming more comfortable with my physical appearance again. And then.. this outfit photo happened. Aian and I were outside this cafe in KL, and I asked him to take an outfit photo. We were in KL for four days, but I only asked him to take a photo on our last day there. And when I saw the photo, I thought, "hey....I actually look kind of cute!". The fact that the first thought that came into my head when I saw the photo was that I looked cute and not that my arms looked big or that my face looked hella round.. to me, that only means I've become okay with my body again. Finally, after a year or so of not being able to come to terms with this 'new' body. Not gonna lie, I'm still not 100% happy with my current physical appearance. I'd still really like to lose the extra fat since my current body can't fit into a lot of my favorite clothes anymore. Other than that, I'm slowly learning to appreciate my fuller figure. Slowly.<br /><br />The silver lining in all of this is even though I haven't lost any weight, I'm about 3x stronger physically than I was last year, so there's that! I'm planning to get even stronger. Maybe even try a new physical activity! For that #fightlikeagirl realness.<br /><br />----<br /><br />So, I didn't accomplish every one of my goals. But!! The past year has been a year of tremendous growth for me. Compared to the me of last year, the me right now is much stronger. Wiser. Kinder. My personal goal for the year was to '<b>become a better version of myself</b>' — more than anything, I'm glad that I was able to stay true to that :)<br /><br /><b>2018, come at me!</b></div></div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-19155288847346107852017-12-29T21:59:00.010+08:002018-06-28T21:16:51.079+08:00Kuala Lumpur, 2016 : part iii<div class=para><div align=justify><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YkT4LJMVzOc/WkUe_3sHovI/AAAAAAAADgA/RG__5AydRSA4WVN8oyz6SxlDdkc_zpsEwCLcBGAs/s1600/kuala-lumpur-2016.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Finally, we're at the last part of my KL 2016 travel diary! And in Classic Chai Fashion, <i>of course</i> I'm posting this after we'd already gotten back from this year's KL trip. Of course. But hey, better late than never, right? Right! _(:3」∠)_</div><a name='more'></a><br /><div align=center><div class="llhead"><hh>Day 4 : date with Hanie</hh></div>I mentioned in my <a href="/2017/12/kuala-lumpur-2016-part-ii.html" target=_blank>previous post</a> that we met up with our friend <a href="http://itsme-hanie.blogspot.com/" target=_blank>Hanie</a> at Comic Fiesta. The problem with CF is that it's always quite hectic—we're all running around doing all the things we want to do, so we don't get to talk much when we see each other. Because of that, I thought it would be a good idea to reserve a separate day for us to hang out.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4592/38645870634_93fe13f49d_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4589/25484796408_47877b75be_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Before getting on our Uber ride, we spotted this stray siamese kitty walking nearby. Looks pretty beat up, but at least s/he seems to be well-fed. There's probably someone who feeds the kitties in the area.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4691/38645876364_1491449550_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />We decided to meet up with Hanie for lunch at this place called <b>VCR Coffee & Cakes</b>. It's a cafe in <b>Bukit Bintang</b>, which is a stylish and trendy neighborhood in KL. There are A LOT of cafes in this area, so I had a hard time choosing. According to Zomato, VCR was (and still is, I just checked) the most popular and highest rated cafe in the area. I was not disappointed. <br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4738/38476327585_79a08493b5_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />The place itself is very IG-friendly, but it was quite packed when we went there so I only managed a few snaps. It's a great place if you want to sit down and hang out with friends. Also if you sit by the huge windows you get A+ selfies ;) ;) ;)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4589/38476325405_3ec00d6f6f_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4688/25484804528_3738618d52_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Their breakfast platter was so good~ I shared it with Aian, but I regret not getting my own LOL. <br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4647/25488268388_c1e665af94_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />My favorite thing about VCR is the friendly kitty sleeping outside the cafe front! I found out later that VCR is actually home to quite a few cats, which makes my heart very happy &hearts;<br /><br />After lunch, Aian went to Berjaya Times Square to check the arcades, while Hanie and I spent a bit more time at VCR to catch up. Hanie had just come from Tokyo the month before, and of course I was thirsty for Japan stories hahaha. After that, Hanie offered to take me to <b>Pavilion KL</b>, since I'd never been there before. <br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4735/38649484384_40097fa4e9_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Shiny shiny~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4682/38649482734_0a95368df4_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4640/24503464807_2cb0a17edc_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4686/38649481174_73f8bacc95_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Pavilion has an area called <b>Tokyo Street</b>, which has a lot of Japanese shops and Japan-inspired decor. My favorite part was this area with the huge manekineko. The lantern in the background looks a lot like the one in Asakusa! I wanted to get a photo with Hanie here, sooo we decided to go and fetch Aian to take our photo LOL.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4647/38649477224_da4c8eff1c_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Got distracted by this <b>Sephora</b> near Pavilion on the way to Berjaya Times Square. I didn't buy anything because they didn't have anything by 3CE or Moonshot there, BLESS.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4634/38649475144_ea9627e432_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4647/25488233748_973671b395_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4646/25488229328_2cc5f2564a_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4683/25488226048_7a7f9e26ea_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4646/38649466594_4aba083f2f_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />On the way back from fetching Aian, we spotted <b>Isetan The Japan Store</b> from inside our Uber, so we asked to be dropped off here instead. I had an idea of what would be inside, but I wasn't expecting to see Lolita dresses there! They were sooo pretty. I fell in love with this one Innocent World JSK. I wanted to try them on but I got shy shy shy. There were also a lot of anime-related merchandise, such as the <b>Q-Pot x Sailor Moon</b> collab items, <b>Love Live!</b> and <b>Haikyuu!</b> merch, etc.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4636/38649464384_34e8a34d6c_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4679/38649462834_49c5ec1600_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Each floor is dedicated to a different thing Japanese food on the lower ground floor, fashion goods on the next, and so on. This floor is more for traditional Japanese items and books. I really liked the design. Feels a lot like Kengo Kuma's work.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4680/27591007389_6ab813ae47_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4600/38649479694_2a5a60d0a1_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4683/38649478544_e9d1045a8c_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />After getting distracted in Isetan, we finally reached Pavilion again and got to take our outfit photos. Yay!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4597/38649461444_ff77d55870_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />For dinner we had duck rice! It was good, but I still prefer chicken rice. <br /><br />After that, Aian and I said goodbye to Hanie, and went back to our Airbnb to call it a day. Fun fun! We only ever get to meet with Hanie once every year, but we always have a fun time. Always looking forward to the next meeting &hearts;<br /><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>Day 5 : Central Market + last minute packing</hh></div>As always, the last day of our trip was reserved for buying souvenirs. We always do it at <b>Pasar Seni</b> (Central Market).<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4642/27580479169_29f23acb5d_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Last time we'll be seeing this view.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4737/39327666852_dc6b824864_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4588/39327664372_485a3274c6_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><b>Central Market</b>! The thing I like about Central Market is that they offer a lot of traditional goods such as batik, embroidered bags, etc. My family loves the chocolate from Beryl's, and <b>Choc Boutique</b> at Central Market has the lowest prices compared to all the other chocolate shops I've checked (KLIA2, KLCC, Pavilion), so we always buy them here. Because we've been here so many times, we already have a clear idea of what we need to buy. So this time, we literally just bought what we needed, went to check Aian's fish friends (at the fish massage place lol) and then left.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4594/39327660732_0e8319e37a_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4591/39327658092_6b7a097bda_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />We passed by this area while on the way back. I took photos from inside the Uber ride because I found the architecture beautiful. The name of the place is <b>Panggung Bandaraya DBKL</b> (DBKL City Theatre).<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4734/24493107897_2d11017601_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4688/39327655632_caf2309bca_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Once we got back to our Airbnb, the first order of business was to pack our luggage LOL _(:3」∠)_ We bought so many books over the course of our stay in KL that we had so much to pack. We also had to worry about cleaning our room....cry.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4733/39356929961_f111d20dc6_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />After 2~3 hours of packing and cleaning! After this, we headed to the airport for our midnight flight back to Manila.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4647/39356926301_bd761abab5_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Bonus photo! Aian drawing while we wait for our delayed flight _(:3」∠)_<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4730/27580474829_80d2290f62_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Coming home to Manila~<br /><br />That was our Kuala Lumpur 2016 trip! Always looking forward to our next KL visit &hearts;</div></div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia3.139003 101.686854999999922.885326 101.36413149999993 3.3926800000000004 102.00957849999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-89035750250973168022017-12-12T21:54:00.011+08:002018-06-28T21:16:52.620+08:00Kuala Lumpur, 2016 : part ii<div class=para><div align=justify><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cG5GbA_4o0Q/WioaIJ0Du6I/AAAAAAAADek/8B5PpbgfncgM-1n_ylBhs56RzHJWzwwtwCLcBGAs/s1600/cf.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"></div>Hellooo from your resident lazy blogger! Aian and I are leaving for KL the day after tomorrow, and yet I'm still in the middle of writing my KL 2016 posts.... I never learn, sigh _(:3」∠)_ Anyway! Today's post is all about Comic Fiesta, Malaysia's biggest anime, cosplay, and gaming event! <font color="red">((A smol warning: this post is VERY image-heavy!))</font><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><div align=center><div class="llhead"><hh>Day 2 : Comic Fiesta 2016, Day 1</hh></div>As I mentioned previously, Comic Fiesta is the main reason why Aian and I have been flying to KL every year. I always look forward to CF because compared to our local cons, CF has a lot more artist booths. Imagine maybe half of the venue packed with artist booths! And the artists are always improving the quality of their merch, so it's always exciting to see what kind of new and shiny things we'll find~~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4693/38191239484_9c792f4648_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />As we were leaving for Comic Fiesta, we spotted these two near our Airbnb.<br />(Aian wanted to take a photo with them but they flew away when he tried to get closer lol)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4736/24041676837_9a1817356c_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />After getting lost on the way, we finally reached the venue....only to see this. SUPER LONG LINE WTF<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4562/38019891895_2d1e950131_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />When we got inside the event venue itself, IT WAS SO PACKED AND SO HOT that I felt like I was suffocating. After scouring the basic and premium art booths, Aian and I went back out after only 3 hours or so. The shortest time we've ever spent at a con EVER lol<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4639/38019895625_1533e3ccb0_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4730/38906518791_be17321633_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Spotted these awesome cosplayers outside, so I managed to take some cosplayer photos at least!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4535/38906515641_ace146f085_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4592/38019889715_d60dd85446_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Cutie <a href="http://itsme-hanie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Hanie</a> &hearts; &hearts; &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4543/38019886985_e679be7b10_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4581/38906510701_bd7cc26b7f_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Best part of this day for me was getting to have both chicken rice AND three layer tea. My favorites!!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4568/38019884545_e68bfe8a1e_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Krul on a car~~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4684/38870895872_d7074ff92d_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4536/38019882275_547e2d5693_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />In the evening, Aian and I went to Jalan Alor for dinner. Despite it being our 4th time in KL, it was our first time visiting Jalan Alor. I'd already searched for info on the place, but when we got there I was still pretty shocked to see so many restaurants. Since it was our first time, we thought it would be a good idea to go for the things that were familiar to us. We had multi-flavored dumplings first (no photo because I ate everything before I could remember to take one), and then after we had fried <i>lok-lok</i>. Everything was so good~~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4573/27129953829_3735fa535c_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4726/27129950939_f8365729a9_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />After dinner, Aian and I headed back to our Airbnb to rest up and get ready for Comic Fiesta Day 2!<br /><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>Day 3 : Comic Fiesta 2016, Day 2</hh></div>We woke up a bit later for Day 2, because we stayed up watching Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children the night before, lol. For Day 2, my gameplan was to line up for all the cosplayers' merch that I wasn't able to buy the previous day. Aian was able to buy most of the merch he wanted on Day 1, so all that was left to go back to the ones he wasn't able to visit. This time, so as not to get lost again, we took an Uber to the event venue. It took us less than 15 minutes and a little over RM7 to get there. We should've taken an Uber the first time haha _(:3」∠)_ <br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4581/27148975629_8121c02340_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />I spotted this super cute Shinku cosplayer as we were going inside. Look at that beautiful velvet dress, makes her seem very doll-like * u *<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4562/27148974299_f686d66b2e_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />I don't know the series, but the cos was so nice! Also I am weak against oni characters _(:3」∠)_<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4554/27148971819_f171246149_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />First order of business was to get King's photobook and signature! (Also hugs, yes heheheh.) I guess I was lucky because there weren't a lot of people left in line that day? I managed to meet King just a few minutes after queueing. <strike>A bit sad the cos was Zen and not Jumin though</strike><br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4580/27148970599_beeea5d220_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4636/27148969169_8d7508b49d_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Also managed to meet YingTze after lining up for....almost 2 hours LOL. It was worth it, because YingTze's Tamamo is super cute! The only reason I was so bitter while I was in line was because during that time, Aian went to meet Ely in my place wtf.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4558/27148967909_4216b00fbd_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Quick lunch break! We have this every Comic Fiesta. It's a meat pie with mashed potatoes and gravy on top!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4560/38039314645_58ae92ffa4_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4581/38039310925_87e8205d98_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4546/38039310195_c256e2d78a_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4733/24061533647_2b8093dca0_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Random snaps while roaming the con floor~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4734/38038955415_c72273fcec_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4640/38038952845_0644a15ffd_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />This year was the year Aian joined the Comic Fiesta 100 Days Countdown! We were pretty excited when we found out that he was chosen as one of the people to receive the goodie bag, but we weren't expecting to see his drawing blown up this big on the wall * O *<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4547/38039313755_db53e06f6b_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4520/38039312605_77d1449eb9_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />More cosplayers~~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4535/38038950875_29e26a3e23_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Aian and I went to meet up with Hanie to do a mini-shoot of her costume, and on the way we met Jin and Miguel!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4597/38038948715_e6db80ac4c_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4686/38038947215_48412411a3_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4642/25054044208_6a58b57ef6_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />We had the shoot with Hanie outside of the venue since it was quite dark inside. The light outside was so nice! I didn't even need a reflector or anything. We managed to take a lot of good photos. If you want to see the rest, then just keep reading until the end &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4565/27148950579_6b58ae4608_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />Even as the event was winding down, the artist booths area was still super packed.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4559/25054043228_55dd516cb5_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />As we were leaving, I found this cute Maki cosplayer and asked for a selfie heheh. No waifu no laifu! And while we were waiting for our Uber outside, a pretty girl managed to find us haha * O * I was taken aback because she started walking towards us and even said hi. During that time all I could think about was, "did I really know such a pretty person????" Turns out that she was the Kusuriuri cosplayer we met back in Comic Fiesta 2013! I was so surprised that she still remembers us ; v ;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4684/38039316025_3e1e9cb0dc_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />SO PRETTY...........SO COOL * u *<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4524/25054041888_d16d3852ab_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />In the evening, we went to Jalan Alor again to have dinner. This time we had BBQ pork noodles and stir-fry vegetables at Wong Ah Wah, one of the restaurants along Jalan Alor that's highly recommended by a lot of Malaysian food bloggers. The food was so good! I'm glad I decided to check out food blogs beforehand. (I'm quite biased when it comes to Chinese food though—there's not a lot of Chinese food that I <i>don't</i> like, so if you're heading to KL soon and want to check out Jalan Alor, please just keep that in mind lol)<br /><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>✧ Star Guardian Hanie ✧</hh></div>As promised, here are the photos from our mini-shoot with Hanie! She cosplayed Lux from League of Legends, Star Guardian version! The costume and props were all made by her. So cool~ I have a lot of respect for people who create their costumes themselves, because I can't do any of that myself haha ; v ; One thing I liked a lot about Hanie's costume was the colors! These days my favorite thing to do with my photos is pushing the vibrance of the colors, and for these photos the effect looked really pretty! My photography skills are super rusty, so I'm glad that the photos turned out much better than I expected~ I hope you like them as much as I do &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4519/24142419537_b09742631f_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4559/24142418067_88a63e8796_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4565/24142416637_5868f8fab6_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4596/39005816731_b014164b76_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4633/39005815371_e468ac0422_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4563/24142421187_51de26cd9a_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br />You can find more of Hanie's cosplays here:<br /><a href="http://itsme-hanie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hello.haniekuar/" target="_blank">Facebook Page</a> | <a href="http://instagram.com/haniekuar" target="_blank">Instagram</a></div></div><br /><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia3.168094 101.69178899999997-51.158437000000006 19.074601499999972 57.494625 -175.69102350000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-82622997865549264402017-12-05T01:02:00.010+08:002018-06-28T21:16:54.151+08:00Kuala Lumpur, 2016 : part i<div class=para><div align=justify><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b89M0l3zJOY/WeGCIDZivYI/AAAAAAAADbg/MzFSG8PqVtwF2nXgy8WnrQVFIWCEU85PwCLcBGAs/s1600/kuala-lumpur-2016.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /></div>Aian and I are leaving for <b>Kuala Lumpur</b> again in nine days, and so I thought it was about damn time that I shared photos from last year's trip. Long-time readers of this blog probably already know this, but we've been flying to KL every December since 2013. Why KL? Well, it's become a sort of yearly pilgrimage of ours—flying to KL, attending <a href="/search?q=comic+fiesta" target=_blank><b>Comic Fiesta</b></a> (Malaysia's biggest ACG event), meeting friends we only see once a year, filling our luggage with books from <b>Kinokuniya</b>, and then flying back home. Compared to the first three times that we've been there though, for this particular visit we had a lot more free time. We stayed there for five days—two days for Comic Fiesta, and three days to do whatever we wanted. I'm a "my pace is the best pace" kind of person, so I enjoyed being able to explore the city at our leisure.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div align=justify><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4557/24835369518_444d0539ff_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4455/36994400003_96dc2f7922_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4489/36954716684_48e733e9a9_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4474/37632588692_25e5632b5b_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>Day 0 : Arrival in Kuala Lumpur</hh></div>We arrived in KL at around 6PM. Upon arrival at the airport, we bought a sim card from one of the kiosks at the entrance. One of Aian's friend suggested we do this. I hadn't thought about getting one before, so I didn't know that it would make a world of a difference. The sim card came with free data for about a week, which was more than enough for booking Uber rides and searching for places to eat. After that we had a quick dinner at Burger King—I really like their chicken burgers—and then took the KLIA Ekspres to KL Sentral. From there we took another train to Dang Wangi, then walked to our Airbnb. We got a little lost on the way, so I had to ask for directions. (It was then that I learned that c's are pronounced with a "ch" sound in Bahasa Malaysia. I kept pronouncing Cendana as "Kendana" when I should have been saying "Chendana".) We eventually got to <b>Mercu Summer Suites</b>, met with our host, and finally settled into our <a href="/2016/12/checking-in-from-kuala-lumpur.html" target=_blank>beautiful room</a>. <br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4482/37665536741_028e3d3168_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4452/23812459248_396fd0092e_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4467/23812457968_c85e90a250_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4514/36954712834_4f6aecec32_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4467/23812456818_0bce3b6801_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4498/37407172280_36f4518259_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4461/37632595892_4cd5370e84_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4466/37407170390_b76717dc5d_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4453/37632594912_ffd576664f_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4509/23812452818_435b98613d_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4505/37632594452_ae37b6fd64_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4512/36994368793_278bf41147_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4509/37407167670_f83bdba137_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4473/23812450538_a184deeeea_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4512/37615957096_c7f0d90867_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4450/37615956776_6f55065db9_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4511/37407163900_28e906bc26_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4481/37665520361_52c2f3fcae_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4460/36994365423_f8e07fee0b_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4511/37665519501_e0df3ccfff_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4473/36994365053_3503d334c7_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4452/36954698424_63db07318d_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4506/37407159950_46137d1875_o.jpg" alt="Kuala Lumpur 2016 | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><hh>Day 1 : Suria KLCC + dinner with Neesa</hh></div>We had the first day free, so we decided to head to <b>Suria KLCC</b>. Suria was just as I remembered it, but the thing that caught me off-guard was the shiny new <b>Innisfree</b> store! The pillar of Green Tea Seed Serums invited me in...and I walked out with a few masks and a new primer. For lunch, we had my favorite <b>chicken rice</b>! I LOVE chicken rice. Is it because of the rice? The chicken? The sauce?? I don't know why, but whenever we visit KL it's all I ever think of eating. After that, we went straight to <b>Kinokuniya</b>. There were so many new artbooks and photobooks compared to the previous years! I got Milky, Alisa Yagi, and Mirai Saitou's photobooks, plus a couple of artbooks from artists I stalk on Twitter. I also chanced upon one of Kira Imai's books! There were a lot of books that I liked, so I ended up getting more than I expected. Aian, on the other hand, bought enough books to fill our luggage _(┐「ε:)_<br /><br />After our successful artbook haul, we went back to our Airbnb so we could leave our stuff before meeting with our friend, <b>Neesa</b>. We've been meeting up with Neesa every year since 2013, and this year was no different. We took a train to <b>Taman Bahagia in Selangor</b> to meet her for dinner. She introduced us to <i><b>satay</b></i>, <i><b>sirap bandung</b></i> (milky drink flavored with rose cordial syrup), and <i><b>roti canai</b></i>. They were all so good! I particularly enjoyed the <i>satay</i>, but eating so much of it made me crave <i>isaw</i> for some reason. After a lengthy chat, we headed back to Summer Suites to call it a day. We ended the day by watching a movie using our host's internet streaming app on the TV. We watched <b>Zootopia</b>, which was SO GOOD! Streaming's great when you have 100Mbps wifi, lol.</div><br /><div align=justify>This is just part 1 of my Kuala Lumpur 2016 photos. I really enjoyed being able to go about the city at my own pace, so I ended up taking a lot more photos than I did during the previous visits. I still have about three days' worth of photos from this trip left—including photos from Comic Fiesta—so I'll be sharing those next! Hopefully I'll be able to post everything before we fly out to KL again! _(:3」∠)_<br /></div></div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia3.139003 101.686854999999922.885326 101.36413149999993 3.3926800000000004 102.00957849999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-75362637060718713292017-11-23T18:49:00.010+08:002018-06-28T21:16:55.581+08:00October 2017<div align=justify><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Cc75_-wB1hQ/WgYwwixlJ1I/AAAAAAAADcw/w7FEYvU0gvIlfi7jk4ZUlB5YXwqdc1aywCLcBGAs/s1600/life-lately-october.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Hey there! I'm glad you're still here. Real life has become a bit overwhelming for me this past month, which is why I'm barely ever on social media these days. So thanks for sticking around, I really appreciate it! :) Before the year ends I'll be putting up some photos from our annual Kuala Lumpur trip in 2016 (it always takes me at least a year to go through travel photos, apparently), so that's something to look forward to. For now, let's catch up, shall we? Here are a few life snippets from October~🌿<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4535/38311542721_22d6d02ffc_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>Red eyeshadow</h></div>In September I got my hands on two Etude House single shadows that I'd been eyeing for a long time—<b>Look At My Eyes RD302 Piquant Wine Burgundy and Look At My Eyes Cafe RD302 Wine Maple</b>. (I wrote about them briefly <a href="/2017/10/currently-recently-lately-3.html" target=_blank>here</a>!) Even though I got them in September, I wasn't able to actually use them that month, because I rarely go out anymore. Luckily, Aian and I had planned to attend Cosplay Mania at the beginning of October, which meant I had an excuse to use my shiny new shadows! The photos above were of my look for the day. I mixed them with a bunch of other glitter and shimmer shadows, so my eyes looked SUPER SPARKLY. 10/10 would wear on a daily basis (if only I weren't so lazy lol).<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4551/38257238656_7de1b31206_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4535/38280576592_e107ff5a84_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4584/38280574282_9af6ec3864_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4567/38257228486_488bec2a21_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4556/24441519548_33c8961669_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4521/37595803964_5816da3b5e_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4522/26537812229_ee488ffc8d_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4550/38280563792_181ea84847_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4527/24441512568_22b3649087_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>Cosplay Mania 2017</h></div>On October 1st, we went to MoA SMX for <b>Cosplay Mania 2017</b>—our last local con for the year. Aian and I actually planned to attend the first day of CosMania, which was on September 31st. But after hearing that the panel featuring Yuri!!! On Ice's director and producer would be happening on Day 1, going on that day didn't seem like such a good idea lol. Day 2 was a lot more chill compared to Day 1, I heard. Which is great because I'm old and can't really keep up with all these events anymore _(:3」∠)_ I spent most of the day hanging out with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/chichilittle/" target=_blank>Chichi</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dollykaye/" target=_blank>Kaye</a>, and <a href="https://meteooooors.wordpress.com/" target=_blank>Banan</a> at the <a href="http://kawaii.ph/" target=_blank>Kawaii PH</a> booth. I tried to help out with the selling but that didn't really work out ;; So most of the time I was just taking selfies with everyone. I went around the venue a couple times, took selfies with friends I met while roaming (hello <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sailor.vfairy/" target=_blank>Nona</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Jin.behindinfinity/" target=_blank>Jin</a>!), then went back to the booth. I did get to see some old cosplay comm friends I haven't seen in ages, so that was nice. But yeah....that was pretty much my whole CosMania 2017 experience _(:3」∠)_<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4553/38280544292_21c54a7b07_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4574/37595794024_3c4ed095b5_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>Huji Cam</h></div>After seeing so many of my friends enjoying the Gudak Cam app, I tried looking for a similar app on the Apple Store. I didn't want to buy the app because I knew I would be switching to Android soon. I discovered <b>Huji Cam</b> after a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYJlyU_Lf33eqp6KWYONTGg" target=_blank>Korean Youtuber</a> I follow posted a bunch of photos using the app on Instagram. I didn't expect that I'd like it so much, but I did. Little did I know that both Gudak and Huji would be unavailable for Android....sigh. You can see all the photos I took using it <a href="/2017/11/digital-film.html" target=_blank>here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4549/38280540222_54f7c13845_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4532/37595791434_4f66aee802_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4515/38280538332_f10e1e6efe_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4536/37595787344_f160fa3b4a_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4563/24441482688_17383c9fb8_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4570/37595782834_63d4bc2281_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4567/38311477001_797fb4e5c2_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>Emi & Abbey</h></div>On Octber 8th, my younger brother and I attended <b>our dad's wedding</b> as part of the entourage. Our dad and his girlfriend, tita Abbey, got married after 4 years. I've been to a handful of family members' weddings these past couple of years, but I honestly wasn't expecting my dad's to be one of them, haha ;; The wedding was lovely and the reception was fun, even though my feet died from walking around in 3-inch heels the whole day. Most importantly, my dad looked really happy, so I'm happy for him.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4522/26537874239_f6117273ab_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4559/26537871119_820f332aa6_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4550/26537866979_eb15c278e9_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4522/26537861019_16a843c768_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4533/38311451971_2b824d15dd_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4548/26537851729_65287e58f1_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>Pre-birthday + Birthday lunch 💫</h></div>I always look forward to October because it's my <b>birthday month</b>. This year, I celebrated my birthday twice. On the 15th, I had lunch with my dad's side of the family at <b>NIU by Vikings</b>. It was my first time at SM Aura Premier, and all I can say is that place is HUGE lol. My pleb ass almost got lost on the way to NIU ;; The food at NIU was okay. I liked that they had a salad buffet. I made sure I ate a full plate of veggies so I didn't go wild with the dimsum. And then on the 16th, which was my actual birthday, I had lunch with Aian at my favorite ramen place, <b>Ramen Yushoken</b>. I tried their miso ramen, which was delicious. But it made me realize that I still prefer shoyu ramen after all. We also had gyoza, which is a must! Aian also gave me a painting of my son <b>Kenma</b>, whom I share the same birthday with &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4572/37676975734_18ae0ab009_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4574/26537838939_09ac96a5b2_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4538/37595744434_3cc069b496_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>Shiny new phone</h></div>I bought a new phone to replace my old and dying iPhone 5S, as a birthday present to myself. (I bought it myself, but the money used to buy the phone was the combined efforts of my mom, younger brother, and myself LOL. Thanks, fam.) It's an <b>ASUS Zenfone Selfie</b> – the older one. I wanted to get something that had a good quality camera, but didn't cost a fortune. The newer model, the Selfie Pro, is at around ~P13k. Which is a great price for a phone, but shelling that much money for just a phone didn't sit well with me, because I only ever use my phone for selfies, anyway. I settled for the older model instead, which I got for half that amount 👌 I took some test shots with the camera the same day I got it, and they turned out great. Trying to find good Android apps to replace Analog Tokyo and Hujicam has been hard though, but that's the only problem I've had so far. Despite that, I'm super happy with my new phone. (By the way, my current wallpaper is my Best Girl #2, Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade ❤)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4518/38257175746_d3f5491b53_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>Laguna trip</h></div>On the 31st, my mom's side of the family went to <b>Laguna</b> to celebrate our tita's 50th birthday. I don't have a lot of photos from this day because I dove right into the pool after taking a photo of the food. The hot spring water felt so good that I barely left the pool. <br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4531/24441509998_6767664a4e_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4549/24559837728_b7dacb673a_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4525/38374920646_e5a0a2a0c1_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4530/38374916306_926210f86a_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4521/24559785628_9c6000d98c_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>Food I stuffed my face with in October</h></div>Ramen, dumplings, taco salad, all sorts of salads, and A LOT of McDonald's Garlic Parmesan McSpicys.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4557/38280547322_8ab17c7b63_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4541/37595776374_51bcd15605_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4571/38311471211_5ab7bfa8e4_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4555/26537877849_a5a61de1f0_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4553/37595750754_ae657e4960_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4565/38257179386_c188dea2a4_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>As usual, a cat update</h></div>I took a lot of photos of <b>Ame</b> this month. Partly because I was so focused on getting him back to normal after that whole liver illness he went through in September. I'm happy to say that after more than a month, Ame is 100% recovered~ The last two photos of him were taken a couple of weeks apart, and you can see how much his condition has improved &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4558/24441504188_d5b3112abe_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4526/37595748554_e4301761d3_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4532/38257168856_d9f9e6e07b_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4579/38257159496_c26080cb54_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4580/24441423338_312c37197e_o.jpg" alt="October 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="llhead"><h>Lastly, an update on our foster kittens</h></div>The reason why I took so long to post my October update was because I had a difficult time trying to think how I should go about writing about this. If you remember, in September, the stray cat that we'd been taking care of gave birth to four healthy kittens. The kittens were doing well, and passed the 1-month point safely. I've read a lot of kitten care articles on the Internet, so I know that for kittens you can't really be sure that they'll survive until they safely pass a certain age. Even though I knew that, I had to learn it again, the hard way. <br /><br />On October 18th, we found a tiny kitten meowing loudly outside our apartment. Because we wanted to see if his mother would come back for him, we just offered him food and water. He ignored it though, so I assumed he still couldn't eat solids. The next day, we found him still meowing outside. So I did what seemed the best thing to do at the time—I put him in the box with all the other kittens. The mama cat didn't seem to mind, so I thought that would be the end of that. After a few days, I found one of the original four kittens dead. Not just dead....she was eaten. By her mama cat. I knew cats did this, but I was still pretty jarred when I saw it with my own eyes. It was harsh and I felt so devastated, but I had to accept it. Nature is scary. And then after a few days, the stray kitten also died. This time because he was too weak to live on, even though I was feeding him kitten milk replacer so he could get more nutrients. I found out only later that the mama cat apparently only had 3 nipples that were producing milk properly, so only the three strongest kittens survived. I knew that this was how nature is, but it still hurt to lose two kittens in such a short span of time. So I made sure the three remaining kittens grew up strong and healthy. This November, they passed the 2-month mark with no problems. The three are currently up for adoption. If you're interested, you can check <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co/posts/1143979082403092" target=_blank>this link</a> on my Facebook Page for the details.<br /><br /><b>What have <i>you</i> been up to lately? Any interesting stories from the past month? Let me know!</b></div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-85818230746903954532017-11-16T09:13:00.009+08:002018-06-28T21:16:56.877+08:00digital film<div align=center><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GjCVs6caEVk/WgvZEz_ZMaI/AAAAAAAADdI/ZKQug0L6xQ89Ib4cmuZlG7Gzae3QSwFcACLcBGAs/s1600/hujicam.JPG" alt="digital film - Hujicam | chainyan.co"><br />Some photos taken using the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/huji-cam/id781383622?mt=8" target=_blank>Huji Cam</a> app, just before I switched to Android. <br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4547/37716520614_58fd61921e_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4586/38399613832_3211f32838_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4544/38399612522_5f30fa39d1_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4550/38399609292_54be2f4e62_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4555/38399606632_3eda21cf88_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4526/38399603182_0f15e5ef7c_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4557/38399601332_35d53aeab1_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4572/38374946386_199223bd09_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4538/38374944456_862004e60d_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4519/26654612519_79edf78e89_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4555/26654607309_29e98e9a7e_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4579/26654604579_52bdb73719_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4575/26654601509_5fc820860e_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4536/26654599589_b88875f82e_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4517/24559850648_50cf8073bc_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4527/24559848088_94337dfc4f_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4529/38430983381_de59531d39_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4567/38430982531_00f9ea7859_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4549/24559837728_b7dacb673a_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4521/24559830898_37027c3e9f_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4561/38374929246_7bf352f365_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4529/38374926566_66df7abc68_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4526/38374924616_2f2d330a66_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4584/38374922506_f0f1a47c8c_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4525/38374920646_e5a0a2a0c1_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4563/38374918326_c934950e4f_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4530/38374916306_926210f86a_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4580/38374914466_dbb59fc30e_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4538/38374911146_b372754895_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4517/38374909486_fd6708fe1b_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4543/38374906136_3165c0374b_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4517/38430965431_762583e6e4_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4521/24559785628_9c6000d98c_o.jpg" alt="digital film - Huji Cam | chainyan.co"><br />It was fun while it lasted 😢</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-15431231260750265382017-10-22T14:45:00.009+08:002018-06-28T21:16:58.590+08:00September 2017<div align=justify><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dcrMz0gh-Q4/WepmyKp6ThI/AAAAAAAADcY/XVWZS4IskZ4Cy7pVAAUfJTfMmSZlkFy8QCLcBGAs/s1600/life%2Blately%2B-%2Bseptember.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I feel bad for posting these so late, but I've been taking too many photos this month (thanks to Hujicam and my rediscovery of Afterlight) that I can't put my September and October snaps together in one post. I need to always keep my blog post photos at a certain number, or else our slow-ass Philippine internet won't be able to load my site, lol. So for now, here are my photos from September 🌿</div><a name='more'></a><br /><div align=center><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4462/37818546081_d9a9ac71da_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4512/37786588512_01b33ae614_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4464/37818543581_d564216d49_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4455/37818542501_d2b323f156_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />On September 9th, Aian and I went to SMX for <b>Best of Anime</b>. My reason for going was to support <a href="http://www.facebook.com/seishun.kakumei" target="_blank">Seishun Kakumei</a> during their perf, but we ended up arriving late so I couldn't watch them perform. Still, I was happy to see all my SK and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/kawaii.in.ph" target="_blank">Kawaii PH</a> friends again &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4488/37818541161_9f9cfc1d53_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4461/37818539331_ba5d978d8f_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />After the event, we went to <b>Dohtonbori</b> with our friend Allysa for our usual post-con dinner together. I was so hungry that I forgot to take a photo of our okonomiyaki, so have a photo of our radish and seaweed salad instead.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4476/37818534961_2692d4edbf_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I became obsessed with Sunmi's <b>Gashina</b> ever since it came out, hence the photos lol<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4449/37108303904_d001ace781_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4449/37818531291_406261d2de_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />A very pregnant Aventine kitty~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4494/37108299004_1d54cbb2b6_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />The week after BoA, we went to Southmall to run some errands. Buy groceries, get my ID photo taken for JLPT registration, etc. While we were there, I saw this huge Tsum Tsum display! So cute! I also got to eat my favorite mini-donuts with cinnamon sugar &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A4SwrjYcIKE/WdLjg2DMVtI/AAAAAAAADXQ/AjprXO1A5bAiVMHPDTq1VI1Czt7oMKztwCLcBGAs/s1600/currently-recently-lately-3.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4447/23965568918_e79534ae1f_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />On the 18th, I asked Aian to accompany me as I submit my <b>JLPT</b> registration to the <b>Japan Foundation Manila</b> office in Makati. The registration only a few minutes, so afterwards we decided to look inside the JFM Library. I was surprised to see so many different manga titles there! Had I known about this place when I was younger, I probably would have spent all my free time there.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4491/37818505771_a5b7ff6fe4_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Afterwards, Aian and I had lunch at <b>Yabu</b>. I actually wanted to have ramen, but we found out that day that Kichitora (my second favorite ramen place!!) had closed down ;____; Yabu has slightly healthier food choices though, so it's all good.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4471/37818502731_2f5ddc7aca_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4444/23965563468_1c9e0fdffe_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />When we got home in the evening, we found out that Aventine kitty had already given birth! <b>Four healthy baby kitties</b> &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4483/37786554672_ea361ae9be_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />This is them after almost half a month. SO SMOL AND CUTE. The two orange kitties at the top are male, while the two tortoiseshell ?? calico ?? kitties below them are female. I'm looking to have them adopted after 2 months or so!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4495/37148172443_871ef8d0d4_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4463/37786558942_a82f9c2b9d_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />There are LOTS of new food establishments where we live, so it's hard not to be tempted to eat out. But because Aian and I always want to stick to our <i><b>#getfit</b></i> plan, we try to choose healthy food choices even when eating out. It's pretty easy for me since I've always liked veggies anyway. It gets hard when I start craving for ice cream, because I don't like frozen yogurt, which is the healthy replacement /cry<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4476/23965574828_b5609acff6_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I love veggies, so I've been eating them whenever we get the chance to buy them. <b>Romaine lettuce</b> is SO GOOD with <b>tomatoes and cucumbers</b>. Just these three plus <b>garlic dressing</b> is my go-to salad for when I feel like snacking in between meals.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4481/37818548141_d85c5136c7_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />And what's a life lately post without our seven babies? Starting off with this fatty, Leng~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4471/37818537301_0a82e038db_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Mimi's resting bitch face -___-<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4447/37108306404_e1fe156f88_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Mimi and Mori (aka Aian's two favorite kids lol)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4499/37786590572_0f729f8fb0_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Mong and Jakejake sleeping~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4445/37818498511_db11214ab0_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I........ don't know why Mori and Nora are like this<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4464/37148174683_1d44229043_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Jakejake's favorite place to sleep<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4485/37786557532_24b2427a8c_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />My two grey and white tabby boys, Leng and Ame~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4487/37148167173_aee8cdf98c_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Speaking of Ame... Sometime mid-September we were faced with a sudden crisis ;___; Ame suddenly fell sick and refused to eat for a full day. The next day, Aian took him to the vet where they took a blood sample for testing. When the result came back, it turned out that Ame had developed an ulcer and liver problems from not eating. He had to be confined for 2 days. Then he was sent home because he refused to eat from stress while being confined. The vet thought he might start eating if he went back home. We had no idea what the underlying cause of everything was.... but all we could do was get Ame to eat again so he can recover. It was a stressful week. I finally got Ame to eat by hand-feeding him mushy canned recovery food. It was like this for a few days until he finally started eating solid dry food on his own again. I took this photo then. I was so relieved to see him eating on his own that I felt like crying at the time.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4486/37148162323_f30fc887ec_o.jpg" alt="September 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Ame by the end of September. He lost so much weight ;____; He was around 3.5kg before, so I'm assuming that he's only around 2.5~3kg now. The good news is that he's recovering well. He's currently a month into recovery. I took a <a href="https://twitter.com/_chainyan/status/920921070483382273" target="_blank">new photo of Ame</a> just last week, and he's looking much better! Hopefully by next month he'll be able to regain the weight that he lost and he'll be happy and healthy again~~</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-2329582977018337162017-10-03T10:00:00.009+08:002018-06-28T21:16:59.843+08:00life lately #3<div align=justify><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A4SwrjYcIKE/WdLjg2DMVtI/AAAAAAAADXQ/AjprXO1A5bAiVMHPDTq1VI1Czt7oMKztwCLcBGAs/s1600/currently-recently-lately-3.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />It's October! My birthmonth, woo! It's been a while since I did a <a href="/search/label/life lately" target="_blank">Life Lately</a> post, so I thought I'd do one today! :)<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><i class="fa fa-book"></i> <h8>Reading</h8><br />These blogs: <a href="http://deluminators.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><b>deluminators</b></a>, <a href="http://www.eatyourteacup.com/" target="_blank"><b>eat your teacup</b></a>, <a href="https://kiki-li.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><b>Ki! Ki!</b></a>, and <a href="http://www.anouk.co/" target="_blank"><b>ANOUK</b></a>. Save for the last one, I've been following these blogs for years now but I still make time to visit and backread their posts whenever I have time. ANOUK was a fairly new discovery, which I found while checking out the recommended blogs on Bloglovin. I love travel blogs, but I love personal blogs more. So whenever I find blogs that are a great balance of both, I tend to like them right away. Such is the case with these.<br /><br />I've been reading my friends' blogs a lot these days as well! <a href="https://dearmykang.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><b>Kang</b></a>, <a href="http://www.monochrocat.com/" target="_blank"><b>Ciara</b></a>, <a href="https://meteooooors.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><b>Banan</b></a>, <a href="http://writingriddles.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><b>Ingrid</b></a>, <a href="http://ashleydy.com/" target="_blank"><b>Ashley</b></a>, etc. The usual bunch heheh. Also, my friend <a href="http://itsme-hanie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><b>Hanie</b></a> has been sharing stories from her Tokyo trip recently, and I've been enjoying reading all about it. <br /><br /><i class="fa fa-tv"></i> <h8>Watching</h8><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4426/36656035393_ed66a09513_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />Last month I started watching <b>Produce 101 Season 1</b>, but I gave up in the middle because I remembered how extremely stressful watching survival shows can be for me ;___; I did watch all the performances though! I went into the whole thing knowing only Pinky, Nayoung, and Somi (because of Pristin and Sixteen). I came out stanning Chungha, Pinky, and Sohye &hearts; <br /><br />After that, I decided to give <b>Sister's Slam Dunk 2</b> a try. On Sister's Slam Dunk, members from different parts of the Korean entertainment industry get together to make an idol girl group. I watched Season 2 because Minzy and Somi were there. I ended up liking it a lot more than Produce 101. I watched the whole thing with Aian! All of the members are so funny, and I loved how their chemistry made them all seem like real sisters. I also loved that everyone there gave their 100%, even if it was a variety show. I plan to watch Standby I.O.I. in the near future as well since I got to know I.O.I. a little bit from watching fanmade videos.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4380/36657479123_46e8ca8280_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />Aian and I have also been watching <b>Buzzfeed Unsolved</b>. I recommended it to him after reading about it on <a href="http://www.mlkbox.com/2017/08/true-crime-obsession.html" target="_blank">Elise's post</a>. The only reason I did that was because I thought he'd watch it on his own... I was wrong lol. I'm really weak against creepy stuff but Aian keeps wanting to watch it so ;_____; The only good thing about the series is that the two hosts, Ryan and Shane, aren't ~super serious~ about everything. There's a lot of bickering and sarcastic side comments in between, so it's a lot lighter than most shows about the supernatural out there.<br /><br />As for anime, Aian and I recently finished <b>Kakegurui</b> and <b>New Game!! Season 2</b>. They were okay. The newer series that have been coming out these days aren't to my taste, so I've been looking for good ones from past seasons. Just the other day we started watching <b>JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders</b>. It's been... very interesting, so far. We're only at the halfway point, but I really want to finish watching this season quickly because I'm more interested in Diamond Is Unbreakable. <br /><br /><i class="fa fa-music"></i> <h8>Listening to</h8><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4452/37278107286_29f29a53f5_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />I'm the type of person to only listen to the same song or album on loop when I really like it, so there's not a lot of new stuff on this list. I still really like <b>Suran's <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/2T09zKIYfKNHMOAkwHpEwp" target="_blank">Walkin'</a></b> and <b>Heize's <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/7ANb4BnhkVoBO4RDSJ6uSs" target="_blank">/// (You Are Cloudy)</a></b> mini-albums, even though they were released months ago. I also like Heize's collab song with <b>Jay Park</b> and <b>GroovyRoom</b>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0JJeoiCAa1hwcBsPxBN2w4" target="_blank">Sunday</a>. I had this song on loop for about a week or two when it came out. <br /><br />Some recent faves are <b>Primary's <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0tySz1g5jxMXH04cUXEA89" target="_blank">~42</a></b>, <b>offonoff's <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4ewoC1jHUHRvSARPVMVDeY" target="_blank">boy.</a></b> album, <b>Sunmi's <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0jFHMDRXxKaREor3hBEEST" target="_blank">Gashina</a></b> (aka song with Dance of the Year 2017), <b>Bonjour Suzuki's <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6Cqwml1UWQfiZMK5hMlKm1" target="_blank">The Best of Bonjour Suzuki</a></b> album, and of course, <b>Unnies' <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/7xePxAMPRq6WuRzuWxK8hJ" target="_blank">Right?</a></b>. I also have a playlist of the songs I currently have on loop on my Spotify. They're pretty much just KPOP songs I like listening to while I shower though. You can check that out <a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/chainyan/playlist/6eZ4GfJGveRKmuVjYuJnkQ" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4419/37279605206_d3e12045dc_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br />I've also been listening to the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5ECF0soZ1H5NxZHanAzUYd" target="_blank"><b>The Minimalists Podcast</b></a> whenever I have time. My attention span tends to randomly fly out the window though, so I'm only on the 7th or 8th episode even though I started listening to it about two or three months ago. It's very interesting in itself, but if you plan to start listening to it, I recommend watching their documentary first. That way you'll have an idea of where they're coming from, and what their version of minimalism really is. Otherwise, they may come off as very pretentious (?). At least that's what I've noticed from reading comments on their Youtube videos, lol. These two people have changed my perspective on minimalism and "stuff", so I highly recommend it to people who are interested in the whole minimalism thing.<br /><br />Speaking of podcasts, earlier this week Aian started listening to the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/25PdDOYwfXDFvZ4pI1JWDh" target="_blank"><b>Lore Podcast</b></a> after I recommended it to him. I have friends who like supernatural things so there's no shortage of stuff like this. I recommended it to him, but I had no idea I'd be listening to it as well. He plays it on his PC (through speakers!!) whenever he's working, so I get to listen to it as well... whether I like it or not. Because everything is backed by research, it's super informative. But still, it can get hella creepy at times. I can't even go to the bathroom when it's on ;___;<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-gamepad"></i> <h8>Playing</h8><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4446/36667017333_33054519ac_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><b>Granblue Fantasy</b>! I'm not very good at it though. The only reason I'm still playing is because the art in the game is so pretty.<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-eye"></i> <h8>Needing / Wanting / Coveting</h8><br />I think my iPhone 5S is on the verge of dying, so I'll have to replace it when it does. I'm looking to replace it with something cheaper than an iPhone but still takes good photos. Maybe the <b>ASUS Zenfone Selfie</b>, since I mostly only take photos of my face anyway lol.<br /><br />I'm also interested in getting the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orangemonkie/foldio3-take-bigger-ideas" target="_blank"><b>Foldio 3</b></a> when it comes out. Because I'm usually asleep during the day and up at night, I have a hard time taking photos with good lighting. I'm planning to get the Foldio 3 so I can take better photos for product reviews.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4486/36754722944_d1f006250f_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-heart"></i> <h8>Loving</h8><br /><a href="https://www.instagram.com/chichilittle/" target="_blank">Chichi</a>'s self-produced zine, <b>Mumu Month</b>! "<i>Mumu</i>" is the general term in Filipino for monsters. Growing up, I always thought that <i>mumu</i> was baby-talk for "<i>multo</i>", which is the Filipino word for ghosts or spirits, but it turns out that <i>mumu</i> refers to all monsters, ghosts included. Mumu Month was created by Chichi in honor of October, the spookiest month of the year, and also her birth month! The zine is all about the monsters in Philippine mythology, depicted in Little Miss Paintbrush style! It's spooky and cute at the same time! I finally got the chance to read it yesterday, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Chichi's drawings are always cute, but her storytelling is SO GOOD. I can't express this enough. Definitely buy the zine if you can! You can get a copy of it <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BY8CTYXlsSI/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-thumbs-down"></i> <h8>Disliking</h8><br />The fact that the nearby cinemas only showed Gintama for ONE DAY before pulling them out of theaters, wtf. And that photos have been suddenly disappearing from my iPhone recently because I only have a few MBs of space left.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4462/37321107736_666975735e_o.jpg" alt="life lately | chainyan.co"><br /><i class="fa fa-shopping-bag"></i> <h8>Recent purchases</h8><br />These two shadows from <b>Etude House</b> have been in my wishlist for so long; I'm so happy I finally got my hands on them! They're <b>Look At My Eyes RD302 Piquant Wine Burgundy</b> and <b>Look At My Eyes Cafe RD302 Wine Maple</b>. I love red/burgundy shadows so I'm so glad I finally have these. I couldn't find them in any of the local Etude House shops, so I ordered them via user <a href="https://shopee.ph/snowpeachmall" target="_blank">Peach Pink Mall on Shopee</a>.<br /><br />I also bought new brown lenses. I had to throw my previous brown pair out because my eye grades went up so much.<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-bookmark"></i> <h8>Recently bookmarked</h8><br /><a href="https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/kanji-radicals-mnemonic-method/" target="_blank">This page on Tofugu</a> on learning kanji with radicals and mnemonics. I'm having a hard time memorizing the kanji necessary for N5, so I've been looking for methods for effectively learning kanji. This method seems to be the best, but to be honest, it just made things a lot more complicated for me. I'm really hoping I'll be able to stuff all these things inside my head by December!<br /><br /><i class="fa fa-calendar"></i> <h8>Looking forward to</h8><br />My <b>birthday</b>! And of course, <b>Halloween</b>! The most wonderful time of the year 🎃✨<br /><br /><b>What have <i>you</i> been into lately? :)</b></div><div class="foot"><a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="http://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="http://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-68753298221817259422017-09-20T01:36:00.010+08:002018-06-28T21:17:01.267+08:00August 2017<div align=justify><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--lIgODYHbNE/WbopepO4A3I/AAAAAAAADW0/xfw6cZcnUEQHQewZxAntgnBNVtcgsgtcQCLcBGAs/s1600/life-lately-august.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Hellooo, long time no blogpost!✨ It feels a bit strange to not post anything on the blog for more than two weeks, especially since just a few months back I was putting up at least 2-3 entries a day. The reason for not posting anything is because I've recently decided to focus on two things – 1) preparing for the December JLPT, and 2) maintaining a healthy diet and exercising. If I were to compare the two, I'd say the latter is much harder because I'm coming from a super sedentary lifestyle, with 70% of my diet being fastfood and other junk. I'm now eating a lot more veggies. I'm also working out at least 15 minutes a day, 2-3 times a week. Whenever I have time to walk, I walk. My initial motivation was to lose weight, but now I'm focusing on getting stronger. It's super challenging, but I think I'm doing okay.<br /><br />Today I finally found some time to sit down and write a post, so I thought I'd do a quick one and share some photos I took last August. I'll write a more detailed life update next time. This one is going to be mostly photos of the kids again, but you probably knew that already ;)<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/37119526792_36d0fde372_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4371/37292769215_4b64d73a2e_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />A friend commented that I don't post a lot of photos of Jake compared to the others, so now I'm trying to take more photos of him. The reason for not having a lot of photos of him is because I often forget about taking photos when I'm playing with him. Jake is a super playful and active kitty (which is why we call him Jake the puppycat), so playtime is serious business.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4385/37119520242_5414e18c55_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4371/37101518506_c18f8bf8e0_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4361/37119513592_28c3b765d2_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Also, I only ever take derpy photos of the kids these days, and a derpy Jake is quite rare to see lol.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/37119511272_3ef00e8f72_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I finally got around to dropping off more of my old clothes at H&M. (I only dropped off old clothes, no kitties included.)<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4403/36894495110_8da03706d3_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4438/36894494330_33cbe2f27e_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Had lunch at <b>Cafe Mary Grace</b> after. I really like their creamy salmon pasta, but I kind of wish it had just one big piece of salmon rather than little chunks. Also got to try Coffee Bean's new <b>Mexican Chocolate</b> drink, thanks to <a href="http://ashleydy.com/" target="_blank">Ashley</a>'s gift cert!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4375/36894492790_7ebd4756ac_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Went back to Southmall a couple of days after, to buy this super cute <b>Choppy T-shirt</b> at <b>UNIQLO</b> heheh &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4435/36894491280_7533631666_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/37101512376_30353d500d_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/37101511456_d295c3c687_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4420/36894483480_44a3bf1c19_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/37101509126_be94fc58d7_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />More sleepy kitties. My phone right now pretty much only has photos of the kids in weird sleeping positions lol.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4371/36478153843_22fef41966_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Nora's kids hogging the bed while I was trying to work.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/36894471580_41f3dd2c5e_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/36894468220_bdb5de4af3_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4334/36454882664_3f16dd7e62_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Cats and cacti at my grandma's house.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4373/37119500902_1cfe09c143_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Sometime mid-August we went back to Divi to do the second fitting for the dress for my dad's wedding. The dress turned out pretty cute!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/37119499412_2920537f01_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4393/37101494046_05c53fd6a8_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I haven't looked inside a single thrift store ever since I started decluttering. The main reason is that just being inside a thrift store makes me want to buy things, which is why I'd rather not go inside one. We passed by one when I went out to buy a new sports bra at the nearby Jockey though, so I thought, why not. Thankfully I didn't find anything too cute. So my no-impulse-buying streak is still going strong!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/36894458070_930e68dd15_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4416/36454873714_edf4bd599f_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4433/36454871124_f6facd4afe_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4430/37101481776_5d3b996f35_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Last August 11th, a new food park called <b>Localle</b> opened up along BF Resort Drive. We got to check it out a few days after it opened, and we've gone for dinner three times since. Our go-to stall there is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Firepitribs.localle/" target="_blank">Fire Pit</a>, which has really good Honey BBQ Chicken and BBQ Pork Ribs. We also recently tried ordering from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/despaseafood/" target="_blank">Despaseafood</a>. I got their Garlic Suahe, and liked that a lot as well. I want to try the food from lot of other stalls but because we keep going during dinner time, we always end up ordering the same thing because....rice is life lol.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4403/37292742435_1d837bc7b1_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />We finally bought a new fridge! Our old one broke a few months ago, and during that time we mostly ate out or had food delivered. (I gained like 3kg during that time....) Ever since we got our new fridge, I've been catching Leng staring at his reflection in it. It's so funny because all he does is sit there for minutes and stare at his reflection lol. So cute.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4408/37149495281_ac2d9dd0e0_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Leng and Jake have become a lot closer these days. Before they wouldn't even sleep on the bed at the same time.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4393/37292739595_b40bcf7ee1_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4341/36478127583_d7ec211955_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Jake photobombing Leng lol<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4332/37149487371_ae98590bfe_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Clingy kitties. We've been getting a lot of thunderstorms recently, so the kids have become clingier than usual. On particularly cold days, we'll wake up with four or five kitties sleeping on the bed with us.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4437/36894438450_ee253ef33a_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4375/36894426080_1e65e80dbb_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4386/36478122133_baf386a5c3_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4372/36478119153_babe80e16f_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/37119479032_baa4b2b71f_o.jpg" alt="August 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />They're visibly much clingier towards Aian though. I'm a bit jealous, to be honest ;___;</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-72391822674725415542017-08-31T06:13:00.011+08:002018-06-28T21:17:02.557+08:00review : Althea Petal Velvet Powder<div align="justify"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PyAqod4ndEA/WacZ0Cfae4I/AAAAAAAADWc/gHfEfGZ_xcYtjuV9v-YLwHhGd8XxhsddQCLcBGAs/s1600/althea-petal-velvet-powder.jpg" alt="Althea Petal Velvet Powder Review | chainyan.co"><br />Back with another K-beauty review, yay! That's two K-beauty posts in a row! As you may already know, <a href="http://ph.althea.kr/" target="_blank"><b>Althea Korea</b></a>, Korea's premier online beauty destination, recently came out with their <b>very own product range</b>! Earlier this month, they released their debut product, the <a href="http://ph.althea.kr/petal-velvet-powder" target="_blank"><b>Althea Petal Velvet Powder</b></a> 🌺 I was given the opportunity to try it out before its release, and today I'll be reviewing it for you~~<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4368/36116116453_3d3ce69699_o.jpg" alt="Althea Petal Velvet Powder Review | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="deets"><b>Althea Petal Velvet Powder</b><br />3g / 1.7oz</div><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4355/36784409711_3f7e3bc760_o.jpg" alt="Althea Petal Velvet Powder Review | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>ALTHEA PETAL VELVET POWDER</h4>What is it? Inspired by Korean Althea petals, the <b>Althea Petal Velvet Powder</b> is a translucent powder made with micro-fine particles that <b>minimize the appearance of pores and fine lines</b> to reveal a <b>flawless, petal-like complexion</b>. Infused with oil from Althea seeds, this powder works to <b>keep sebum production at bay</b> without dehydrating the skin for a <b>radiant, fresh look</b>.<br /><br /><h4>PACKAGING</h4>The Althea Petal Velvet Powder comes in a cute little tub with a <b>frosted glass base and matte pink cap</b>. The cap is the same color as <b>Althea's signature pink boxes</b>. I love how the packaging is so minimalistic yet still very feminine. (#myaesthetic heheh) Because the tub is so small, you can easily bring it with you for touch-ups throughout the day.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/36116114743_6626580b36_o.jpg" alt="Althea Petal Velvet Powder Review | chainyan.co"><br /><center>Speaking of Althea's pink boxes, the box for the powder has the exact same design!</center><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4346/36116113073_32bf2cea6f_o.jpg" alt="Althea Petal Velvet Powder Review | chainyan.co"><br /><center>The powder comes with its own puff, which is super soft and fluffy. It reminds me a lot of mochi!</center><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4402/36784406161_8cf265e146_o.jpg" alt="Althea Petal Velvet Powder Review | chainyan.co"><br /><center>I love that little message on the sticker~so cute.</center><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4357/36116110933_2a3cd671f3_o.jpg" alt="Althea Petal Velvet Powder Review | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>INGREDIENTS</h4>The Petal Velvet Powder was made with <b>natural and cruelty-free ingredients</b>. The star ingredient? The flower that the brand was named after – <b>Althea</b>! The Althea, also known as <b>Hibiscus Syriacus</b>, is Korea's national flower. <b>Althea seed oil</b> is high in <b>linoleic and oleic fatty acids</b>, and contain a form of <b>vitamin E</b>. In addition to these, Althea seed oil is also known to be rich in antioxidants called <b>anthocyanocides</b> which can <b>protect the skin from environmental stressors</b>. Anthocyanocides also have slightly astringent properties which help to <b>reduce the appearance of large pores</b>, as well as anti-inflammatory properties which help to <b>soothe inflamed skin</b>.<br /><br /><b>FULL INGREDIENTS LIST</b><br />Silica, Mica, Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Methicone, Hibiscus Syriacus Seed Extract, Hydrogenated Lecithin, 1,2-Hexanediol, Glyceryl Caprylate, Maltodextrin, Fragrance<br /><br />** All ingredients are deemed safe, but the fragrance might be a potential irritant for some. Full analysis on Skincarisma <a href="https://www.skincarisma.com/products/althea-petal-velvet-powder" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4345/36117458963_144d8d82ae_o.jpg" alt="Althea Petal Velvet Powder Review | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>TEXTURE & SCENT</h4>The powder is <b>very finely milled</b> and has a <b>soft and smooth texture</b>. It has a <b>mild floral scent</b>. So mild, it's almost like baby powder! I personally dislike anything with floral scents, but the scent on this one doesn't bother me at all. <br /><br /><h4>PERFORMANCE</h4>Once applied, the skin instantly feels very <b>matte and smooth</b>. I like that it has a <b>blurring effect</b> as well. It does look a bit white upon application, but blends into the skin after a while. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to test this product for oil control and longevity as I don't have time to go out these days. I'll update this review once I do! _(:3」∠)_<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b> I used the Petal Velvet Powder to set my makeup yesterday. I don't like having to touch up my makeup when I'm out – once my makeup's done, I just forget about it until I get home. I was out for about 6 hours yesterday. With this powder, my face was <b>shine-free for about 4~5 hours</b>. At around the 4-hour mark, <b>my nose started getting oily and the makeup around my nose started breaking down</b>. An hour after, my <b>forehead started getting oily</b> as well. My <b>cheeks were still shine-free</b> by the time I got home though, so that's good!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/36925419905_fed23b6bf0_o.jpg" alt="Althea Petal Velvet Powder Review | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>FINAL THOUGHTS</h4>The Althea Petal Velvet Powder does just as it claims – <b>mattifies skin, sets base makeup in place, and even blurs pores</b>. I have oily-dehydrated skin, so even though setting my makeup with translucent powder is a must, I have to make sure that my skin can still breathe. Before this, I've only ever used one other translucent powder, and that's the Innisfree No Sebum Mineral Powder. While I like that one a lot, I don't like that it makes my face look super matte upon application. The Petal Velvet Powder doesn't do that. The finish is always <b>matte but not flat-matte</b>. Plus, the Petal Velvet <b>keeps my face shine-free for 4~5 hours</b> – just about the same as the No Sebum! Though the No Sebum is my current HG setting powder, the Petal Velvet Powder is now a strong contender for that position. But honestly, just the fact that it has blurring properties already gives it plus points against the No Sebum. If you're looking for an affordable translucent powder and/or an alternative to the No Sebum, I definitely recommend checking this one out.<br /><br />You can get the Althea Petal Velvet Powder for <b>₱210</b> on <a href="http://ph.althea.kr/petal-velvet-powder" target="_blank"><b>Athea Philippines</b></a>. Ships directly from Korea! If you're living in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, or the United States, this product should be available to you on Althea as well. </div><br /><div class="disc">DISCLAIMER: The product in this post were sent to me by <a href="http://ph.althea.kr/" target="_blank">Althea</a> for review, but the opinions expressed here are 100% my own. Financial compensation was not received for this post. Please see my full <a href="http://www.chainyan.co/p/disc.html" target="_blank">disclaimer</a> for more information.</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-10998999023412143762017-08-25T13:46:00.012+08:002018-06-28T21:17:05.519+08:00review : Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream<div align="justify"><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UKhLPrjRfbc/WZLoGDuqfQI/AAAAAAAADUg/38x7oYGf0Y0mkFSpl_cO8jxfqO4E2BB5ACLcBGAs/s1600/benton-papaya-d-sun-cream.jpg" alt="Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream Review | chainyan.co"><br />Last June, I was selected by K-beauty brand <b>Benton</b> as one of the lucky testers of their newly launched product – the <b>Papaya-D Sun Cream SPF 38 PA +++</b>. I was super ecstatic because as you all know, I absolutely LOVE their Snail Bee High Content Essence. I've also heard a lot of good things about Benton's other products, so I was excited to see how their sunscreen would fare. At the time I was selected as a tester, this product wasn't even out on the market yet. I planned to have the review up by mid-July, but because of problems with the local post, I'm only able to do the review now. (My packages had been sitting at the local post office for over a month and not a single note about my packages arriving – MASSIVE FAIL, PhilPost <i>*eyeroll.gif*</i>) But better late than never, right? So here it is!✨<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><a href="http://www.bentoncosmetic.com/" target="_blank"><b>Benton</b></a> is a South Korean cosmetics and skincare brand that focuses on creating <b>freshly made products with high-quality natural ingredients to restore the skin to its original healthy condition, and keep it looking young</b>. Fun fact: the brand is inspired by and named after the main character in the movie <b>"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"</b>, in which Benjamin Button grows younger with time. With this came the brand's concept – <b>"to turn back the time of your skin"</b>. Benton is also certified <b>cruelty-free</b>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/36585753355_9d217bf2cd_o.jpg" alt="Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream Review | chainyan.co"><br /><div class="deets"><b>Benton Papaya D-Sun Cream</b><br />SPF 38 / PA+++<br />50g / 1.7oz</div><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4404/36448631401_9074460338_o.jpg" alt="Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream Review | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>BENTON PAPAYA-D SUN CREAM</h4>So what is it? The <b>Papaya D-Sun Cream</b> is <b>"Benton's first ever sun cream made up of both physical and chemical sunscreen agents. It's designed for daily use, to protect skin from harmful everyday UVs and other external stressors."</b> It was formulated using nourishing ingredients, so you get both sun protection and a better complexion at the same time.<br /><br />This sunscreen has <b>SPF 38 PA+++</b>, which is great for daily use. Regarding the SPF, I read somewhere that <b>SPF 30 blocks 97% of UVB rays</b> and <b>SPF 50 blocks 98% of UVB rays</b>, which means SPF 50 doesn't offer significantly greater protection than SPF 38. SPF 38 PA+++ is perfectly fine for daily use, <b>as long as you apply the correct amount—approximately 1/2 teaspoon for the face, neck, and upper chest if necessary—and remember to re-apply every 2 hours</b>. But because I use AHAs on an almost daily basis <strike>(and I'm paranoid af about getting skin damage)</strike>, I prefer my sunscreens to have SPF 50 PA++++ for maximum protection. If you're like me and just really want <b>the feeling of reassurance</b> from knowing that you're putting on SPF50+ PA++++ on your face, Benton has another sunscreen that offers just that – the <b>Papaya-S Sun Cream</b>. (The S there stands for Sport, so I'm assuming D in Papaya-D stands for Daily.)<br /><br /><b>Benton recommends this sun cream for:</b><br /><ul><li>Skin exposed to various UVs</li><li>Dull skin lacking suppleness</li><li>Skin that wants a moist sunscreen</li><li>Skin that wants protection against both UVA and UVB rays</li><li>Skin that wants a sunscreen with a minimal white cast</li></ul><br /><h4>PACKAGING</h4>The Papaya-D Sun Cream comes in a <b>white plastic squeeze tube with a metallic silver lid</b>. The product name is on the front, ingredients and how to use on the back. There's a bright lime green (?) strip on the tube which makes it easy for me to find it in my skincare drawer. The packaging is pretty straightforward and fuss-free. This is characteristic of all of Benton's products. Benton focuses more on the quality of the products and the ingredients being put into them, that's why their packaging is always very simple.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/36189669820_f1230fa6a5_o.jpg" alt="Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream Review | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>MAJOR INGREDIENTS</h4>Just as the name states, the star ingredient of the Papaya-D Sun Cream is <i>*drumroll*</i> <b>papaya</b>! Reputably called 'the fruit of the angels', contains various <b>vitamins and nutrients</b> that help keep skin moist and vibrant. This sun cream also contains <b>niacinamide</b> and <b>adenosine</b>, which help to achieve a bright and smooth complexion. Here's some info on what papaya can do for your skin:<br /><ul><li><b>Carica Papaya Fruit Water and Fruit Extract</b> – Papaya is rich in vitamins and contains polyphenols, minerals, and papain. Such components in the papaya help to keep skin healthy and beautiful.</li><li><b>Carica Papaya Seed Oil</b> – Extracted from the seed of the papaya, this helps to make skin smooth and supple. It also helps in retaining moisture in the skin.</li><li><b>Papain</b> – Papain is a protease obtained from the papaya. It is effective in pore care, controlling sebum, and breaking down surface dead skin cells and making them easier to remove.</li></ul><br /><b>FULL INGREDIENTS LIST</b><br />Carica Papaya (Papaya) Fruit Water (55%), Titanium Dioxide, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Isoamyl p-Methoxycinnamate, Glycerin, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, <u><b>Cetearyl Alcohol</b></u>, Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine, Pentylene Glycol, Niacinamide, Glyceryl Stearate, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, 1,2-Hexanediol, <b>Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil</b>, <u>Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride</u>, Aluminum Hydroxide, Panthenol, Carica Papaya Seed Oil (5000ppm), <u>Glyceryl Caprylate</u>, <b>Stearic Acid</b>, Water, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Xanthan Gum, Carica Papaya (Papaya) Fruit Extract (750ppm), <b>Tocopherol</b>, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Xylitylglucoside, Anhydroxylitol, Xylitol, <b>Papain (100ppm)</b>, Propanediol, Adenosine, Sodium Gluconate, Disodium Adenosine Triphosphate, <b>Algin</b>, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Bud Extract, Glucose, Juniperus Communis Fruit Oil, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Oil, Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Fruit Oil<br /><br />** Ingredients that are underlined are coconut-derived. Some coconut-derived ingredients break me out, so I try to stay away from them as much as I can. Ingredients in bold are tagged as potential acne triggers/skin irritants on COSDNA. Full analysis <a href="http://www.cosdna.com/eng/cosmetic_c8a2296029.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4348/36719887515_d5e0348ed0_o.jpg" alt="Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream Review | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>SCENT</h4>The scent is....strange. I don't know what it smells like, but it smells a lot like soap to me. Maybe because I'm used to using papaya-scented soaps? (#FilipinoThing lol.) It's not super strong and not particularly bothersome, just a little weird because it makes me feel like I'm putting soap on my face instead of sunscreen.<br /><br /><h4>TEXTURE & APPLICATION</h4>The texture is very light and moist. There's a bit of a sticky feeling during application, but I think that's only because this sun cream has moisturizing properties. It goes away once it's absorbed into the skin. It does take a bit of time though, so I think you should wait 5-10 minutes after application before you move on to the next step of your routine.<br /><br />More than the feeling upon application, what bothered me about this sunscreen was that it looked so white on my face when I applied it. I've read a few other bloggers' reviews of this product and I haven't seen anyone mention getting a white cast from it. I'm assuming maybe it's because I have medium skin tone? If you look at the pictures above, you'll see that my hand in the after photo looks <i>slightly</i> lighter than in the before photo. It looks a lot more apparent when I apply it on my face. It's not much of an issue when I apply a small amount, but when I try to apply the correct amount the white cast becomes noticeable. A little disappointing.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4339/35885082254_0a1241009f_o.jpg" alt="Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream Review | chainyan.co"><br />There's a nice sheen that you get when you apply this product on your skin. That would have been so good if the white cast wasn't so noticeable on me. The sheen makes it look like the skin is super moist, so it's perfect if you want that healthy Korean glow~~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/35776167453_6e3f6be716_o.jpg" alt="Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream Review | chainyan.co"><br /><h4>FINAL THOUGHTS</h4>I've tried a bunch of different sunscreens throughout my AB journey, so by now I already know what I like and don't like. I like sunscreens that I can just put on and forget about afterward. For Korean sunscreens, it's hard for me to find one that I really like because most of them only go up to PA+++, which is okay, but not enough for me. With how the weather is in the Philippines, I wouldn't dare go outside in sunny weather with anything less than SPF 50 PA++++. Another thing I don't like is the white cast. I've tried a lot of methods to make this work for me, such as putting on a little bit at a time, but I always get a noticeable cast. It's not something makeup can't hide, but it's disappointing because I'd planned on using this on ordinary no-makeup days. But I guess I could still use it for when I'm just at home, sitting and working in front of my laptop or the PC. <br /><br />Overall the Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream is an okay sunscreen, but if you live in a tropical country like the Philippines, go for the Papaya-S Sun Cream instead. Also, if you have medium skin tone like me, you might not like this because of the white cast.<br /><br />You can get the Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream for ~<b>$18</b> on <a href="https://w2beauty.com/product-category/brands/b/benton/" target="_blank"><b>W2Beauty</b></a>, <a href="http://rstyle.me/ad/f4u2qbx65w" target="_blank"><b>Style Korean</b></a>, and <a href="http://rstyle.me/~a41bd" target="_blank"><b>YesStyle</b></a>.</div><br /><div class="disc">DISCLAIMER: The product in this post were sent to me by <a href="http://bentoncosmetic.com/" target="_blank">Benton</a> for review, but the opinions expressed here are 100% my own. Financial compensation was not received for this post. Please see my full <a href="http://www.chainyan.co/p/disc.html" target="_blank">disclaimer</a> for more information.</div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331822986615614341.post-42422616374788556782017-08-20T01:44:00.011+08:002018-06-28T21:17:06.709+08:00mid-June to July 2017<div align=center><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Quz7yUVZm04/WZQNQxPuUCI/AAAAAAAADVM/Cw3yuJZnvSw8U2K7xx9NSQv2LPbzd2zqQCLcBGAs/s1600/01-life-lately-mid-june-july.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/36465271111_5cd84e467a_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><a name='more'></a>In the village where I grew up, there’s this one particular area with lots of trees. In the colder months you can see pink and purple flowers bloom. I almost never pass by this place anymore, but I used to do so all the time when I was younger. In June I had to visit the doctor who lives in that area, so I took the chance to take some photos.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/36434586912_8fd85544bd_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Rainy weather = snuggle weather<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4396/36557100946_5b4f829756_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4394/36434584432_22b906e8ea_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />On June 24th, I <a href="/2017/06/saturdate-with-cindy.html" target="_blank">went on a date with my pretty friend <b>Cindy</b></a>. We had lunch at <b>Cafe Mary Grace</b> and spent the rest of the day around ATC and Molito talking about Cindy's boys (lol labyu Cindy) and taking selfies &hearts;<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/36557098176_f95c9980e2_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />It was my first time at Mary Grace and I really liked the food, so in the evening, Aian and I went back there to have dinner.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/36434582222_371649c3f5_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4432/35793913823_0206e47c66_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />It rained a lot in July, so there were days that it got extra cold inside the apartment. On those days all the kids would sleep beside me whenever they get the chance. Jake prefers sleeping on my back, though.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4367/35793912493_06ed18d70b_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/36434533042_5f2ca1cfc8_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4380/35793911793_664f200b4a_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />On July 9th, I went with Aian to <b>REV Major Philippines</b>, a local arcade fighting game event, and also the Tekken World Tour master event for the Asia Pacific. Since Aian's a big Tekken player, we all went to watch the official matches. I think Aian meant to only stay until the afternoon, but the matches got so heated that we ended up staying until the finals. It was intense. I have nothing but respect for pro gamers. We also got to meet <b>Tanukana</b>, the Tekken Queen! She was so cute. She's a Xiaoyu main, which makes her 10x more amazing in my eyes. Meeting her was the highlight of my day u w u <br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4356/36465318471_386480ab65_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />REV Major was held in a place called Circuit Makati....which tbh I didn't even know existed LOL ;; It was our first time there so we didn't know where to eat, so I asked our friend Micel for suggestions. She suggested this place called <b>Rackshack</b> – their pulled pork with garlic rice was sooo good.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4394/36465316921_9ec491d2ce_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Mori staring at the corner....for no reason at all, probably. I don't know lol<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/36465315651_9a74c01d39_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4340/35793906423_5326e0cd3b_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />On July 13th, I met up with my cute friends at <b>Shang</b> for <a href="o/2017/07/eiga-sai-with-friends.html" target="_blank"><b>Eiga Sai 2017</b></a>. <a href="http://ashleydy.com/" target="_blank">Ashley</a>, Sachi, <a href="https://writingriddles.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Ingrid</a>, and I watched Chihayafuru 2. After the movie, we met up with <a href="http://www.monochrocat.com/" target="_blank">Ciara</a> for dinner together. Fun day!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/36465313861_cd72ec00ef_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Stretching~~~~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/36465312901_1b6092af76_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4380/36465311681_11d7d7ce58_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4425/36465310671_087f5b36bd_o.jpg" alt=" |alt="photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Rainy day out at <b>Town</b>. I got to try <b>The Halal Guys</b> and <b>Rita's Ice</b>. It was a very good day.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4370/36465307361_6a846279fc_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4311/36280126605_32b36f1ec4_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />What <a href="/2017/08/everyday-life-with-seven-cats.html" target="_blank">a typical day with seven cats</a> looks like.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4351/36465305481_e5be19687d_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4395/35793881563_c890401828_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />On July 29th, we went to <b>Rob Las Piñas</b> for lunch and a movie. We watched <b>Atomic Blonde</b>, which was really cool!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4419/36465302831_df86825b4a_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />While walking around Rob we found this pet supplies store with this cute kitty! S/he belongs to the store owner.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4407/35793893883_73bff65a93_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />There was also a <b>Yoyoso</b> (ripoff of Miniso...? <strike>which is weird because that would mean it's a ripoff of a ripoff LOL</strike>), so I went to check it out. I found this raccoon plushie, which I just had to get!! Raccoons make me happy because they remind me of Leng heheheheh<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4431/35793892053_4f0b32beac_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4369/35793889743_978838a630_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />He doesn't like it though LOL<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4416/35793887833_23243d39b8_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Mori doesn't care for it either :'(<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/35793885273_33cd60357e_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />He seemed to be okay with it after a day though! ~*character development*~<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4419/35793883483_56c8a24af6_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />I finally sat down and read my <b>Minna no Nihongo</b> books. I read it from time to time, like when there are things that I still don't understand. Apps are great but often there are things that aren't explained properly, so I'm glad I have other references.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4365/35793878933_b62700efa6_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Aventine kitty is pregnant again :'( I really want to get her spayed but spaying at our vet is pretty expensive....<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4379/35793877613_44d3855ff7_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />5/7 sleeping together<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4362/36434554102_2fbefc8415_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/36434555902_c7b9fd8e25_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><a href="http://www.petwarehouse.ph" target="_blank"><b>PetWarehouse</b></a> delivery day! We bought a lot of stuff this time so they gave us a free container for cat food!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4436/35767786694_f852472266_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />We bought cat food, cat litter, and <b>Chu-ru</b>!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4378/35767785304_8c1f3161b3_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/36434547452_b7b08919c8_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4393/36434545212_9b48887f35_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4403/35767781854_2b59936475_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />What happens when I bring out the Chu-ru. Chu-ru party!<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4350/36434540972_3dac5b0ab9_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Mong playing with my box from Benton right after I opened it. This always happens whenever I get new mail, lol.<br /><br /><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4432/35767779514_2648452d99_o.jpg" alt="mid-June to July 2017 photodiary | chainyan.co"><br />Our two eldest boys not fighting for once &hearts;</div><br /><div class="ll"><table width=100% cellpadding="20" align=center><h6>Currently...</h6><tr><td width=50%><b>Making:</b> this blogpost (what a boring answer lol)<br /><b>Reading:</b> a bunch of manga I've bookmarked<br /><b>Wanting:</b> to eat ramennn and gyozaaa<br /><b>Looking:</b> up quick/easy sources for protein that's okay for people with IBS-D.... milk and eggs just won't work for me<br /><b>Playing:</b> Granblue Fantasy<br /><b>Enjoying:</b> using the Nike+ Training Club and Run Club apps<br /><b>Waiting:</b> 2-3 hours so I can do my workout for the day<br /><b>Liking:</b> the newly-opened food park in BFRV<br /><b>Wondering:</b> when I can finally get my hair cut<br /><b>Loving:</b> that I finally removed all unrelated ads on my blog<br /><b>Pondering:</b> joining the Hello Kitty Run as well<br /><b>Listening:</b> to my running playlist, which is mostly just Perfume<br /><b>Considering:</b> getting the Gudak Cam app because of friends</td><td><b>Watching:</b> challenge videos on Buzzfeed<br /><b>Needing:</b> to cut my sugar intake some more<br /><b>Wearing:</b> an old shirt and shorts<br /><b>Noticing:</b> that I've become happier now (or at least, less sad)<br /><b>Knowing:</b> I still need to declutter half my closet<br /><b>Thinking:</b> of getting a second sports bra (I only have one)<br /><b>Admiring:</b> people who can work out more than 2-3x a week<br /><b>Buying:</b> nothing! I don't buy anything now unless I need it.<br /><b>Getting:</b> packages ready to be sent out<br /><b>Bookmarking:</b> the <a href="http://apartmenttherapy.com/" target="_blank">Apartment Therapy</a> page<br /><b>Feeling:</b> very nervous about taking the JLPT. I still have about half of N5 kanji + a ton of vocabulary to memorize..<br /><b>Coveting:</b> the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orangemonkie/foldio3-take-bigger-ideas" target="_blank">Foldio 3 by orange monkie</a> !!!!<br /><b>Wishing:</b> I pass the JLPT this December <i>*prayer hands emoji*</i></td></tr></table>Original list via <a href="http://meetmeatmikes.com/taking-stock/" target="_blank"><b>Meet Me At Mikes</b></a></div><div class="foot"><a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chainyanco-18913835" target="_blank">Bloglovin</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/chainyan.co" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/_chainyan" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/_chainyan/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/chainyan/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div>chaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00344167890853383832noreply@blogger.com0